A Stoked Christmas
by WhazzupPeeps
Summary: A lonely Lo gets permission from her folks to invite Reef, Fin, Emma and Kelly back to Surfer's Paradise for the holidays. Things go swimmingly at first - until tragedy unexpectedly strikes the Ridgemounts. OC included.
1. Lo's Christmas Wish

**CHAPTER 1 - LO'S CHRISTMAS WISH**

**Of all the stories posted here in the _Stoked_ section, I haven't seen any devoted to a Christmas-themed _Stoked_ story, so to commemorate this time of the year, I'm going to work on such a story, the first Christmas-themed _Stoked_ fic to my knowledge to be posted here. It may be posted out of order to what goes on in the events of my storyline timeline, but anything that gets mentioned here that ties in to earlier events that take place while the groms are working at Surfer's Paradise in my current timeline will be explained in future stories.**

**Also, as a departure from my usual light-hearted fare, this is going to be my first T-rated _Stoked_ fic, with a somewhat heavy and bittersweet theme to it that will develop later in this fic. I'm not going to reveal what it is right now (outside of the story summary and what genre category you've seen the story filed in), so you'll have to stay tuned and keep reading to see what it is.  
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**The events in this story start out in early-December, about three months after the events of Gromfest.  
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Surfer's Paradise, the flagship hotel of the Ridgemount Resorts chain long known for being a surfing mecca for tourists and residents of the town of Sunset Beach alike, was not looking so much like a surfing resort as the calendar turned to December as the hotel was now decorated, inside and out, in Christmas ornaments in preparation to celebrate the holidays. Under orders from hotel owner Mr. Ridgemount, Bummer supervised the decoration of Surfer's Paradise as the hotel exterior shone in shades of red and green at night under Christmas lights, while a fir tree outside on the hotel boulevard was similarly decorated with lights of multiple colors.

Inside the hotel lobby, everything in sight there, from the Pirate Ship restaurant to the Lobbyquarium to the gift shop to the front desk, were decorated with lights, colorful garlands, tinsel and other decorations. The centerpiece of the Christmas display was a 25-foot-tall tree standing in the middle of the lobby, decorated (not surprisingly) with ornaments bearing the hotel's Wipeout Whale logo. Also not surprisingly, Wipeout, the hotel's costumed killer whale mascot, got into the holiday spirit by dressing in a Santa hat and coat.

Meanwhile, up at the Ridgemount penthouse at the top of the hotel, the spacious living room was decorated resplendently in gold and silver-colored garland and pots of poinsetta plants, while in one part of the living room stood an artificial Christmas tree with gold garland, ornaments of red, green and blue and fiber-optic lights, along with an angel at the top of the tree. The Ridgemount family had kept busy decorating their home just prior to the turn of the month and Mr. and Mrs. Ridgemount were proud of the results. Socially-conscious oldest son Ty began volunteering with Christmas charities, while youngest son George was simply looking forward to getting the Christmas gifts he wanted from his list when he was not busy tormenting and harassing his older sister Lo.

As for Lo, the middle child of the three Ridgemount offspring, she was feeling out-of-sorts as December began. When the summer tourist season ended in September after Labor Day and school began, she was very happy to be able to return to the penthouse after spending the summer staying at the rundown hotel staff house with staff newcomers Reef, Fin, Broseph and Emma, along with returning staff Johnny, Ripper, Lance and Kelly, most of whom she became friends with right away (except, at least initially, for Kelly, which only happened later after the originally mean-spirited Kelly made a turn for the better due to personal events). Lo and the rest of the staff she stayed with over the summer got involved in some adventures and antics (mostly good, but also one or two bad), capped by the opportunity to go surfing with her friends, that gave her a summer to remember.

But now, since most of the summer staff (except for Broseph and Johnny, both of whom were locals) left after the Gromfest surfing competition at the end of the tourist season to return to their respective hometowns and begin school again (or in Kelly's case, to begin her first year of college), Lo felt somewhat lonely without most of her friends from the summer around. She had known Broseph and Johnny since before she had to start working at the hotel as a Pirate Ship waitress and occasional babysitter (due to the aftermath of the events of her party at the end of the previous school year) and went to school with both of them in Sunset Beach, and she kept in touch with her new friends via e-mails, phone calls and webcam chats, but to Lo, it was not really the same as having Reef, Fin and Emma, and even Kelly, around, and that loneliness became more evident as the Christmas season began.

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Lo was in the middle of writing her thoughts about the start of the holiday season in her diary in her room when, suddenly, she felt the wet impact of a snowball thrown against the back of her head. Startled and angry at once, Lo whirled around in her chair at her desk and saw George standing and laughing in her bedroom doorway. "Haha, gotcha!" George laughed as he pointed at his big sister.

"_Ooooohh!_" a steaming Lo fumed as she leaped up out of her chair and chased a still-laughing George out of her room and down the stairs to the living room. "I'm gonna kick your butt clear across the living room if you don't stay out of my room, you little troll!" Lo yelled at the bratty 10-year-old as he ran down the hallway leading to the elevator which led down to the hotel lobby, which he ducked into just as the Ridgemount kids' mother came out.

"You'll have to catch me first, sis-twerp!" George taunted Lo from the safety of the elevator just before its doors closed to take him down to the lobby.

After returning to her room briefly to get something, Lo locked her room door and went back downstairs to the living room, where she sat down on the couch with a sigh and began moping. As Lo sat there, her mother came into the living room and saw her looking blue. "Are you okay, honey? You look a little down in the dumps," Mrs. Ridgemount asked while sitting down beside her daughter.

Lo lifted her head and let out another sigh. "George keeps coming into my room when he has no business to," she complained. "I don't know why Daddy doesn't do something to rein him in and stop him from harassing me."

"I know, dear," Mrs. Ridgemount said as she attempted to console her daughter. "I don't like seeing you and George fighting either, but I know that he likes to push your buttons a lot. Just so you understand though, I've got your back."

"Thanks, Mom," Lo said with a half-smile.

"I know that's not the only thing troubling you," Mrs. Ridgemount said. "So spill girlfriend, what's on your mind?"

Lo did not usually like it when her mother used hip-hop lingo, especially when she would become embarrassed by Mrs. Ridgemount using such talk in front of her friends, but she did not feel up to objecting this time. "I've just been feeling pretty down since the start of the Christmas season," she began. "I've been thinking about the friends I made during the summer while I stayed in the staff house and the good times we had. I've missed them since most of them left after Gromfest to return home to school." Lo then took out some photos she had retrieved from her room, which she had taken on her digital camera during Gromfest. "I'm glad at least that Broseph and Johnny live in town and we go to school together and hang out often," she said as she looked at Broseph and Johnny's photos.

"That's good," Mrs. Ridgemount said. "How about the others?"

Lo then sorted through the other photos, describing each friend as she looked at their respective photo. "Reef could really be a kook and a showoff a lot of times," she said, "but he also made me laugh a lot. Fin could be tough as nails when she needed to be, but she had a softer side to her too and she was laid back and fun to be with. Emma was really nice and sweet and eager to learn surfing, and both she and Fin were like sisters to me and I could talk with them about anything, gossip with them about boys and just hang out with them at the hotel, in town or on the beach while surfing." As she talked about Fin and Emma, Lo went through a photo of herself and Fin posing together with their arms over each other's shoulders, then one of herself and Emma together, then one of all three girls together.

"Then there's Kelly," Lo continued as she came upon Kelly's photo. "I didn't really like her much at first because of the way she treated me when I had to start work waitressing at the Pirate Ship, but when she started to change for the better after a while and became a bit nicer, I started seeing her in a different light. I found out later that she treated me like she did at first because she had this perception of me based on someone she once knew in high school and didn't get along too well with. Put all that together with my attempts to become a better person myself over the summer, and she changed her opinion of me over time and realized that I'm nothing like this girl she knew from her high school. After that, we started getting along a lot better."

"That's good to hear," Mrs. Ridgemount said, "and I'm happy that the friends you made could make a difference for you."

"Yeah," Lo agreed, now feeling a bit lighter in spirit as she then turned to give her mother a hug. "You know something, Mom?"

"What's that, sweetie?" Mrs. Ridgemount asked.

"I just had an idea," Lo said, "and I want to talk to both you and Daddy about it. Is he in his office right now?"

"Of course he is," Mrs. Ridgemount said. "What do you have in mind?"

"It's something big," Lo explained, "but I'll tell you both soon enough."

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"So let me get this straight, Lauren," Mr. Ridgemount said from behind his desk in his office as he spoke with Lo about her idea while Mrs. Ridgemount stood beside her. "You want to invite Reef, Fin, Emma and Kelly to come back to Surfer's Paradise to spend the Christmas holidays?"

"That's right, Daddy," Lo answered. "I wanted to bring them back here to share the holidays with us. I'd love to see them back here again, and I'm sure Broseph and Johnny would too."

"Maybe you could explain to me why I'd do this for you," Mr. Ridgemount said.

"You've seen the report card I got for the first term, Daddy," Lo explained. "I've been keeping my marks up from the start of the school year, straight As across the board. I've also stayed out of trouble for months now - well, mostly out of trouble, aside from tying up George with duct tape that one time back in October to keep him out of my room," she added with a sheepish grin. "Mainly though, I want to see my friends again for Christmas because I've been feeling a bit lonely lately without them around."

"Well, you do know that Christmastime is usually the time that we travel out of the country for our vacation, right?" Mr. Ridgemount told Lo. "I had planned on taking the family to Florida this year."

"I know, Daddy," Lo said. "But this time, I'd really love it if I could have my friends here for Christmas vacay this year. I've done my very best to stay out of trouble and do good in school, so would you do that for me?" At that point, Lo clasped her hands together and put her trademark twinkle in her eyes, which she usually did when she really wanted something. "Please?"

"It would really mean a lot to her, dear," Mrs. Ridgemount said to her husband. "Don't forget all the times that she helped you stay a step ahead of Captain Ron and keep Surfer's Paradise's as the top resort hotel in Canada."

Mr. Ridgemount then stood up from behind his desk and walked around to face Lo and Mrs. Ridgemount. "You do have a point," he said. "Lauren, you and your friends _have_ been a great help to me when dealing with Captain Ron all those times. In that case," he continued, "I can always put Florida off to another time."

"So does this mean...?" a hopeful Lo asked.

"Reef, Fin, Emma and Kelly are all welcome to stay here at Surfer's Paradise for the holidays," Mr. Ridgemount declared, "and they can also bring along a friend or relative as a guest."

A very happy Lo closed her eyes and squealed excitedly with delight on hearing the news. "Oh, thank you, Daddy!" she said as she rushed over to hug her father in gratitude. "Thank you, thank you, _thank you!_" Lo then turned to her mother and hugged her as well. "Thank you too, Mom," she said gratefully to Mrs. Ridgemount. "I love you both _sooo_ much!"

"You deserve it, Lauren," a pleased Mr. Ridgemount said, glad to see his daughter happy about the new holiday plans.

"You know we're happy to help, sweetheart," Mrs. Ridgemount said to Lo.

"Excuse me a minute, Daddy, Mom," a smiling Lo said as she headed toward the office doors. "I'm going to go call Fin and the others to let them know the good news. This is so _awesome!_"

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**Coming up, Reef and Fin become the first to get invites from Lo to return to Surfer's Paradise for Christmas break.**

**_Stoked_ (c) Fresh TV Inc. and Teletoon. I don't own the show or any of the characters except for my OCs.  
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**Comments and reviews are welcome.  
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	2. Jingle Bells Calling, Part One

**CHAPTER 2 - JINGLE BELLS CALLING, PART ONE**

**Well, here we go with Chapter Two as Lo gets ready to (in a nod to the old Ma Bell system) "reach out and touch" her Surfer's Paradise friends when she invites them back to the hotel for the holidays. **

**Emperor of the Animal Kingdom - Yep, this story will get heavy later on when that tragedy in question happens. How it happens and to who will have to stay a mystery for now, but I can drop a hint - George will have something to do with how the tragedy happens.  
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**MUSKOKA, ONTARIO - THE DAIRY PRINCESS**

Reef, who returned to working part-time after school and on weekends at the Dairy Princess in his hometown of Muskoka after returning from Surfer's Paradise, was busy outside shovelling the ice cream store's parking lot clear of snow following a recent dump of two feet of snow in the area. Shovelling snow was not his idea of fun, especially after the fun he had surfing at the resort hotel on his time off during his time working there that summer.

Thinking about the summer weather kept Reef's mind off the cold outside as he continued clearing snow toward the growing snow piles along the edge of the parking lot, as did the times he spent hanging out with the friends he made at Surfer's Paradise. The most memorable of those friends, of course, was one Fin McCloud, the surfer girl from Halifax who captured his imagination (and his fantasies) during those three months at the hotel, even though their relationship was more along the lines of love-hate during much of that time.

Reef hoisted another shovelful of snow up to toss onto one of the snow piles, but as he prepared to throw the snow on the pile, he slipped on a patch of ice he was standing on and fell on his back. As he slipped and fell, he let go of the shovel and the momentum from the fall caused the snow in the shovel to fly out backward and land on his face. As he lay there with snow covering his face, he then heard laughter coming from not far off.

"Enjoy your trip, dude," the voice said. "See you in the fall!"

"Ha-ha, very funny, Moe!" Reef said as he brushed away the snow and got up, recognizing the voice as his friend and fellow Dairy Princess worker.

"Here, figured you could use this," Moe said, walking over to hand Reef a cup of hot chocolate. "It's crazy cold out here."

"Yeah, thanks man," Reef said as he took the paper cup and took a sip. Suddenly hit by searing pain in his mouth, he then spat out the mouthful of hot chocolate. "_Aaaahh,_ too hot!" he said, breathing in and out rapidly through his mouth to cool off his tongue.

"Well, don't be so quick to drink it next time, man," Moe said. "So anyway, what's up for your Christmas plans this year?"

"Haven't thought that far ahead, bro," Reef said, "though that New Year's Eve staff party Brad's been plannin' just crossed my mind. You bringin' a date for it?"

"You know I am, man," Moe replied. "How about you?"

"Don't worry 'bout a thing, dude," a confident Reef declared. "I'll have a girl on my arm to ring in the new year at that party." A second later, Reef's cell phone rang in an inner pocket of his coat and he fished it out. Checking the call display, he recognized Lo's number right away. "Oop, gotta take this, old friend calling," he excused himself. Hitting the talk button, Reef answered, "Hey Lo, what's up?"

"Hi Reef, I just called with a little good news," Lo responded. "I talked with my dad earlier and he said I can invite some friends from the summer staff back to Surfer's Paradise to spend Christmas vacation."

"Summer staff, as in..." Reef wondered.

"As in you, Fin, Emma and Kelly, silly," Lo said. "I told Broseph and Johnny about it earlier and they're gonna be super-stoked to see you too when you come back!"

"Right on!" Reef said. "So did you call anyone else on your invite list yet?"

"Nope, you're the first," Lo said. Hearing this, Reef did a mini-victory dance where he stood, glad that he got an invite to spend Christmas break at Surfer's Paradise before Fin did.

"There's another thing too," Lo added. "Daddy told me that everyone I invite to stay at the hotel is allowed to bring along one friend or relative as a guest, so you can bring along whoever you want from your family or one of your friends back home. Your plane tickets will be paid for and ready to pick up at the nearest airport you go to, and you'll fly from there to Victoria Airport near Sidney, take the bus down to Victoria and then take the seaplane to Sunset Beach. All you have to do is mention my name when you pick up the tickets, I'll be paying for them. As for your hotel room, Daddy's covering the bill for that."

"_Sweeeeet!_" a jubilant Reef said. "I am SO there! When can we come?"

"School lets out for me here on the 10th, so you can come over right after that," Lo said. "If you come on a Sunday, you'll be able to stay the full three weeks of Christmas break and be able to go home and back to school the day after New Year's."

"Right on," Reef said. "I'll definitely see you then." After hanging up and contemplating how to break the news to Moe that he would have to skip out on the Dairy Princess New Year's Eve staff party for a stay at Surfer's Paradise over the holidays, he then scanned his phone numbers list on his cell phone, picked one and hit speed dial. As soon as the other end answered, Reef said "Hey Mom, have you decided yet what we're gonna do for Christmas? I just got an idea..."

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**HALIFAX, NOVA SCOTIA - AMANDA McCLOUD'S CONDOMINIUM**

Amanda McCloud, Fin's grandmother, had just finished putting up her Christmas tree in the living room of her suburban Halifax condominium a few minutes earlier, but she decided to wait to decorate the tree until Fin, whom she was expecting, arrived to help her with the decorating. While waiting for Fin to arrive, Mrs. McCloud continued her holiday decorating around the living room as Christmas music played on her living room stereo when she heard a buzz coming from the video phone by the front door. Pressing a button on the video phone, Mrs. McCloud said, "Hello?"

"Hi Grandma, it's Fin," Fin, whose face appeared on the video phone screen, replied.

"Hi Fin, come on up," Mrs. McCloud said as she pressed another button to allow Fin access to come into the condominium building. A couple of minutes later, a knock came at the front door and Mrs. McCloud went to check the peephole in the door. Upon seeing Fin standing outside the door, Mrs. McCloud unlocked the door and let her granddaughter in, greeting her with a hug. "Glad you could drop by, dear," she said. "Hope you won't mind helping me with decorating the tree."

"Not a problem at all, Grandma," Fin said as she took off the coat, tuque and boots she had worn to bundle herself against the just-below freezing temperature outside. "I'm actually glad to come here because my place is a madhouse right now with Mom, Sam and the brothers all there to decorate for Christmas."

"I believe it," Mrs. McCloud said with a laugh. "I was just getting some hot chocolate ready for when you came," she added as Fin began sorting through a decoration box to find some garland for the tree. "Would you like some?"

"Oh, yes please," a grateful Fin said. "That's gonna warm my insides up after being out walking in the cold tonight." Walking over to the dinner table to sit down and join her grandmother for hot chocolate, Fin asked her, "So, looking forward to the big day on the 25th?"

"I am, though I imagine it's going to be a bit crowded in here between me, you and your mom and the kids, and your uncle Scott and his family," Mrs. McCloud said. "I don't mind though because I always enjoy your visits."

"Yeah, it's gonna be nice," Fin admitted, "though it won't really be the same without Dad around this year. The first couple of months back home since he's been gone were a pretty rough time. I'm just glad I have you, Uncle Scott and my friends, both here and from Sunset Beach, to talk to about it."

"Thanks, honey," Mrs. McCloud said, putting her right hand on top of Fin's left. "You know that's what we're here for when you need us," she added, drawing a smile from Fin.

"I was thinking," Fin said after taking a sip of her hot chocolate. "With all the surfing trophies you have lining the walls around the living room, I'm amazed you found room to put up Christmas decorations." As she said that to Mrs. McCloud, Fin was looking at the various trophies her grandmother had won in surfing competitions over the years, including a number of East Coast and Canadian title trophies, some from a local competition called the Bluenose Invitational, her very first trophy from winning the Battle of the Betties as a 17-year-old in 1962, and the pinnacles of her competitive career, the five World Women's Surfing Championship trophies she won in 1966, 1967, 1975, 1978 and 1980.

"Oh, I know," Mrs. McCloud said as both she and Fin shared a laugh over it. "I've learned to be creative in my decorating over time when it comes to my trophies."

As Fin was about to make another witty remark about the trophies, her cell phone began to ring in her right jeans pocket and she pulled it out to see who it was. Recognizing Lo's number, she said, "Sorry Grandma, that's Lo calling. Something must be up."

"Tell her I said hi," Mrs. McCloud said.

Fin then answered the phone. "Hey Princess, what's shakin'?" she replied teasingly.

"Hey, you should know by now I only let Daddy call me 'Princess'," Lo said at the other end as Fin giggled. "What're you doing right now?"

"I'm over at my grandma's right now, helping her decorate her Christmas tree," Fin explained. "She wants to say hi, so I'll put you on speaker."

"Sure," Lo said. "You'll want your phone on speaker anyway 'cause I've got some good news." Fin then switched her phone to speaker mode and put it on the table. "Hi, Mrs. McCloud," Lo then said as her voice came clearly over the phone for both Fin and her grandmother to hear. "How're you doing?"

"Very well, Lo, thank you," Mrs. McCloud replied. "How about you?"

"That's what I'm calling about," Lo said, "because I have some good news to share. My dad's letting me invite some friends from the summer staff back to Surfer's Paradise for Christmas vacation, and Fin, you're on my invite list."

Fin's mouth dropped open in surprise. "Really?" she asked.

"Yep, really," Lo said. "And everyone who's invited is allowed to bring along one friend or relative as a guest." Lo then gave Fin the details on how to get from Halifax to Sunset Beach and on the plane tickets, which she explained she would pay for, and the hotel room, which her father would cover. "So what do you think, Fin?" Lo then asked.

"Well," Fin said, "I'm in for sure. As for who to take along, there's really no one I could think of who'd be better to bring to Surfer's Paradise than Grandma. So Grandma, how about it?" she then said to Mrs. McCloud.

"_Hmm,_" Mrs. McCloud mused. "Does the hotel have winter surfing?"

"There've been some surfers who've tried winter surfing here," Lo said. "Never tried it myself, but it sounds like fun, even though it's cold out."

"It's as much about getting a good wetsuit to keep yourself warm and taking the right precautions as it is about catching the waves, but that's all I needed to hear," Mrs. McCloud said. "I'm in too," she added, pleasing Fin.

"Awesome!" a pleased Lo said. "School lets out on the 10th, so you both can come on over after that. Come on the Sunday after so the two of you can stay the full three weeks of Christmas break."

"Bank on it," Fin said. "By the way, who else are you inviting back to the hotel?"

"I'll be calling Emma and Kelly right after you to invite them," Lo said, "and I've already invited Reef. I've also told Broseph and Johnny about it and they'll be waiting to see you guys when you get here."

"Perfect," Fin said. "I'm looking forward to it - maybe not so much with that kookmeister Reef, but Grandma and I'll be there for sure." After saying goodbye to Lo and hanging up, Fin turned to Mrs. McCloud and said, "Grandma, this is gonna be great! I'll get to spend Christmas with you and my friends from the summer and surf some of the most radical waves I've ever surfed again! My friends got to love you after they got to know you at the Staff Tandem Surfing Contest when you were at the hotel the first time, so I think they'll be happy to see you again too."

"After the welcome they gave me the first time, especially Lo, Emma and Broseph, I'd definitely love to go back," Mrs. McCloud said. "All I think we need to do now is break the news about this to your mom and your family."

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**Next chapter, Emma and Kelly are the next to get their invitations from Lo.**


	3. Jingle Bells Calling, Part Two

**CHAPTER 3 - JINGLE BELLS CALLING, PART TWO**

**Chapter Three is finally up as Emma and Kelly get their invitations from Lo. David Hughes, my OC from "Luck Has a Way" and "Starstruck and Wavestruck", also joins the storyline here as he pays a surprise visit to Kelly at her workplace.**

**I've also given a nod to _6teen_ in this chapter with a reference to that show in Emma's part of the chapter with a certain department store that _6teen_ character Caitlin likes to shop at.**

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**CALGARY, ALBERTA - SUNRIDGE MALL**

Sunridge Mall, one of the largest and busiest shopping malls in Calgary, was bustling with Christmas shopping activity as mall patrons milled about visiting one store or another for holiday bargains, or congregating for a bite to eat at the mall's food court in between store runs. Among the mall visitors, Emma, who was dressed up in a dark overcoat with a wool tartan scarf wrapped around her neck for protection against the below-freezing temperatures typical of Calgary winters, was going about her holiday shopping at her first opportunity, wanting to avoid the last-minute Christmas Eve rush that seemed customary among many a Calgary shopper. She had just left the Sunridge branch of Huntington's Department Store after looking for something to buy her parents for Christmas, on her way to other shops around the mall.

_Boy, it's hard to decide what to buy over at Huntington's because of all the good stuff they have,_ Emma thought to herself as she toted a small shopping bag with her. _I sure hope Mom and Dad will be happy with store gift cards so they can use them to get what they want from there. Now,_ she continued, thinking about her two brothers, _I've got to get Derek some iTunes cards like he wants, then there's that Calgary Flames jersey that Jason wants._ As she continued walking along the mall corridor and weaving her way through the crowds of mallgoers on her way to her next stop at a crafts shop, where she planned to buy materials she needed to make homemade jewelry to give as gifts, Emma also thought about what to get for Buster, her pet Jack Russell terrier, as well as for her grandparents, when she felt her cell phone ring in an inner pocket of her coat.

Emma checked her call display and was happy to see it was Lo calling, so she answered right away as she found a bench to sit down on and rest while she took the call. "Hey, Lo!" she said to the hotel heiress at the other end.

"Hi, Emma!" Lo responded. "What're you doing right now? Sounds like you're out at the mall or something."

"I am," Emma said as she checked out her surroundings, making sure to keep her shopping bag by her side. "I've just started my Christmas shopping today. Already bought for my parents, now I have to buy for my brothers, my grandparents and my dog."

"_Awwww,_ that's nice that you're getting something for your dog," Lo, who loved dogs, gushed. "Are you buying for anyone else?"

"I'm heading to a crafts shop to get the stuff I need for making homemade jewelry," Emma said. "I want to make some to give for gifts, like a necklace made from shells that I can send to Broseph."

"_Ooooohh,_ sounds nice," Lo said. "I was thinking, could you do one for me?"

"I could," Emma said, "but that depends on what you like."

"Maybe something with turquoise beads would be nice," Lo said, "but I'm sure whatever you make will be good."

"Okay," Emma agreed. "I'll get working on it when I get home and express-mail it to you when it's done. That'll be my Christmas gift to you."

"_Aww,_ thanks Emma," Lo said. "But instead of spending money to send it to me by express mail, you can give it to me personally."

"Huh?" a puzzled Emma wondered. "I don't understand."

"That's the reason I'm calling you," Lo explained. "I talked with my dad earlier and he's letting me invite some friends from the summer staff at Surfer's Paradise back to the hotel for Christmas vacay, and you're on my invite list, Emma."

"No way!" a surprised Emma exclaimed. "For real?"

"For real," confirmed Lo, who then explained to Emma that the cost of her plane tickets and hotel room would be covered. "Best of all, Daddy told me that everyone I invite over can bring along one friend or relative of their choice as a guest."

"Oh," Emma said with a hint of disappointment in her voice.

"Something wrong, Emma?" Lo asked.

"That's the thing," Emma said. "I'm not sure if I'll be able to take anyone along. My parents will both be busy prepping for the holidays, my brothers both hate surfing and I don't think I'd be able to take just one grandparent along."

"Okay, whatever you decide is up to you," Lo said. "BTW, I've already invited Reef and Fin to come here and they both said yes, and I still have to call Kelly after you. Fin also said she's invited her grandmother to come with her and she said yes, so we can expect Mrs. McCloud too."

"Right on," Emma said. "How about Broseph and Johnny?"

"They'll be here too," Lo said. "Since they both live here in town, they're practically next door to the hotel, so they're in for sure. I even told Johnny I'd be inviting you and he's really looking forward to seeing you."

"Ah, cool," Emma said. "I'm really looking forward to seeing Ty though. I should make something for him too."

"Uhh...yeah," said Lo, who figured that Emma would still have lingering feelings for Ty while being simultaneously oblivious to how Johnny felt about her.

"But anyway, it's so awesome that you want to invite us back to Surfer's Paradise to spend Christmas vacation," Emma said. "I'll talk to my parents when I get home if they need to call you to confirm it, but I'm really looking forward to coming over!"

"Perfect," Lo said. "So will I." Emma then said goodbye to Lo and continued on her way to the crafts shop. _If I'm going to make gifts for the gang,_ Emma thought to herself, _there's no time like the present to get cracking._

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**NANAIMO, BRITISH COLUMBIA - THE JAZZ CAFÉ**

In her hometown of Nanaimo, Kelly was about to begin her dinner shift as a waitress at the Jazz Café, a popular casual dining restaurant in the city's downtown area that also served as an intimate concert venue for small jazz combos on weekend nights. Kelly had begun working there shortly after returning home from Surfer's Paradise, around the same time she began the fall semester of her first year in the Hospitality Management program at Vancouver Island University. Although simply waitressing was a step down for Kelly from managing the Pirate Ship at Surfer's Paradise, she was thankful not to have to wear a ridiculous uniform on the job as she did with the pirate captain outfit at the hotel; instead, she wore a long-sleeved white dress blouse with a name tag and black slacks.

Though she still had about fifteen minutes before the official start of her shift, Kelly was busy arranging plates and silverware from the cart she was wheeling around at some empty tables, keeping rhythm with the song she was hearing from a satellite jazz music channel the restaurant's sound system was playing. As she came around to another table, she noticed a customer sitting at that table reading a newspaper, though the paper was raised so that she could not see the customer's face. Deciding to take that customer, Kelly asked, "Hi there, would you like a menu?"

"Not right now," the customer's voice, sounding clearly male, came from behind the newspaper, "but I do know what I would like." The customer then lowered his paper as he spoke, giving Kelly a pleasant surprise as he revealed himself as David Hughes, her boyfriend of several months.

Kelly's mouth dropped open with a gasp the moment David showed himself from behind the paper. "Ohmigosh, David!" she said, suddenly happy to see him as she walked over to give him a small kiss and a hug. "I totally wasn't expecting to see you in town this weekend! What brought you up this way?"

"Just thought I'd surprise you," David admitted with a grin, "and it looks like it worked. How's work been for you this week?" he asked as Kelly took a seat facing across the table from him.

"Work's been work," Kelly said with a shrug. "It keeps me busy when I'm not at school, but at least I get good tips out of it."

"Speaking of school, how's Hospitality Management been for you?" David asked.

"I've got final exams to study for the fall semester," Kelly said. "The study sessions are a pain, but I think I've brushed up enough on my subjects to be ready for when exam week starts on Monday."

"That's good," David said. "You've kept your marks in your classes consistently high, so I think you've got a shot at passing those exams with flying colors."

"Yeah, I hope so," Kelly said. "I want to pass those exams too and be able to take that momentum into the spring semester when it starts in January. I've learned quite a bit from the program since school started, but some of the stuff they covered in my classes was stuff that I already picked up through my work experience managing the Pirate Ship at Surfer's Paradise, so it came pretty easy for me."

"That's true, you can't ask for a better way of learning than through work experience," David said. "It's how I learned while I was taking the business program at the University of Victoria, by interning at my dad's company when I could..." As he spoke, David's cell phone, which was set to vibrate instead of ring, went off in his coat pocket, signalling an incoming call. "Okay, let's see who you are," he said as he took out the phone and checked the number as the phone continued to vibrate. "Hold on a sec, looks like Lo calling," he remarked while looking at the call display.

"Lo - as in Ridgemount?" Kelly wondered. "Why would she be calling you?"

"We'll find out soon enough," David said as he hit the talk button with his thumb. "Hey there, Lo," he replied. "What's new?"

"Hi, David," Lo said at the other end. "A lot actually, but I'll get to that in a bit. What're you doing right now?"

"I'm up in Nanaimo right now, visiting with Kelly at her waitressing job here," David explained. "She's right here with me as we speak."

"Oh, good," Lo said. "I actually wanted to get hold of Kelly, but I think she had her phone turned off so I called you instead because I have some news I wanted to pass along to her."

"Can you hold on a sec, Lo?" David said before pressing the mute button on his phone. "Lo said she tried calling you because she has some news for you, but she couldn't reach you 'cause you had your phone off," he then said to Kelly.

"Really?" Kelly said. "Well, if it's important, then lemme see your phone."

David then deactivated the mute button to resume the call. "Okay, I'm back. Since Kelly's here anyway, how 'bout I let you tell her the news when I put you on speaker," he said with a chuckle. "Here she is," he added as he hit speaker mode on his phone and put it on the table.

"Hello, Lo?" Kelly answered as soon as David laid the phone down.

"Hi, Kelly," Lo replied. "I guess David told you I had some news to share with you, did he?"

"I may have caught a little bit of it here and there," Kelly said teasingly. "So what's the word?" When Lo told her about Mr. Ridgemount giving her permission to invite some of the summer staff back to Surfer's Paradise for the holidays, and that she was on Lo's invitation list, Kelly seemed pleased, though not overwhelmingly so.

"Here's the part I think you'll like," Lo then added. "Daddy's letting everyone I invite back to the hotel bring along one friend or relative along as a guest, and I think I can guess who you'll want to bring along if you say yes."

Kelly giggled at hearing that part of Lo's invitation. "You'd be right too, there's no one else I'd want along with me than David," she said, smiling as she glanced at her beau across the table.

"That's good," Lo said. "And since you live closest to Surfer's Paradise of all the summer staff alumni outside of Broseph and Johnny, David could bring you up here by car from Nanaimo, so the cost of plane tickets won't be an issue. Oh, and Daddy's covering the cost of your hotel room too, so you won't have to worry about that either. So what do you think?"

"It all sounds good," Kelly said. "But what about you, David?"

"I think a trip back to Surfer's Paradise for Christmas vacation sounds great," David said. "Consider me there already."

Kelly, whose response to Lo's invitation hinged on what David said, then answered affirmatively. "Okay, then count me in too. I have to give my vacation notice to my boss and maybe trade a few shifts with some of my coworkers though, and I have final exams for the semester to write next week at college too, so when's a good time to come?"

"School lets out for me on the 10th, so if you and David come up on the Sunday after, you'll have the full three weeks of Christmas break to spend here and you can get back home in time to get back to work and school the day after New Year's," Lo said.

"Who else did you invite to come back to the hotel?" Kelly wondered.

"I've sent out invitations to Reef, Fin and Emma and they've all accepted," Lo confirmed, "and Fin's bringing her grandmother with her, so with you and David confirming that you're coming, that makes six coming here from out of town so far. Reef didn't say who he was bringing, and Emma isn't sure who'll she'll bring if she does bring anyone. Broseph and Johnny both live close by, so they'll be here for sure too."

"Sounds cool," David said. "So we'll see you and the rest of the gang on the 12th then. Just a question before we go, though - do you know how to ski?"

"I've been on a few ski trips before," Lo replied. "Some of my best ones were to St. Moritz in Switzerland, to Lake Louise and to Whistler. I've skiied all those places and had fun each time."

"Great, so you've been to Whistler too," David said. "Awesome ski hills there. If you haven't skiied Mount Washington yet though, you might want to give it a try. It's just a short drive from Surfer's Paradise, so I could arrange a day trip for the gang to ski Mount Washington if everyone's up to it and anyone else knows how to ski, or maybe snowboard."

"Cool," Lo said. "I'll talk to Daddy about it, but I'm sure he'd love to head to Mount Washington for a ski day with everyone."

David and Kelly then said goodbye to Lo after thanking her for the invitation to Surfer's Paradise. "So," Kelly said as she looked at David after he turned off his phone, "you've been to ski Whistler, have you?"

"Oh, you bet," David said. "Some of the best powder I've ever skiied was there and at Blackcomb Mountain nearby. So, do you know how to ski?"

"Well," Kelly said with a flirty look David's way, "there's just one way to find out when we get out there, isn't there?"

* * *

**Coming up, the Surfer's Paradise gang reunites for the Christmas holidays and take in a session of winter surfing, while George pulls a prank on Lo whose aftermath could have dire consequences for a member of the Ridgemount family. For everyone who's followed the story so far, this _is_ the chapter where it begins to get heavy.**


	4. A Yuletide Prank Too Far

**CHAPTER 4 - A YULETIDE PRANK TOO FAR**

**Chapter Four is up at last, two days before Christmas. This is my longest chapter to date in this story, and in addition to keeping with the holiday theme for each chapter title, I've also derived this title from the _Stoked_ episode "A Prank Too Far".**

**Also on a side note, since I set a little precedent for my story with my earlier nod to _6teen_ in the previous chapter, I'll keep at it like this: Due to the similarities made by the writers of _Stoked_ between Reef and _6teen_ character Jonesy Garcia, both in personality and in appearance (in certain ways), I'm going to establish them in my fanon as being related, as cousins (including the same last name).**

**As promised, this is going to get heavy near the end of the chapter, so...**

**

* * *

**

December 12, the day that Reef, Fin, Emma and Kelly, along with the respective loved ones they invited to join them on the trip back to Surfer's Paradise, were to arrive at the hotel came quickly for Lo, and she waited with anticipation as she stood with Broseph and Johnny outside the hotel's main entrance, waiting for the Whalebus to arrive. Due to the cooling, single-digit temperature outside, Lo, Broseph and Johnny were all dressed up in winter coats as they continued to wait, but a passing breeze by the main entrance created a bit of a wind chill which Broseph began to feel through his coat.

"I'm startin' to feel the chill here, yo," Broseph commented about the weather outside. "Can't we go back in the lobby to wait for everyone to get here?"

"I know it's getting cold out here with the wind and all," Lo explained, "but we have to be here when the Whalebus arrives. Fin said when she called me earlier that she and the others were already in Victoria to catch the seaplane to Sunset Beach, and that was over forty minutes ago, so they're probably in town now and on their way to the hotel as we speak. I also heard from David before then and he said he and Kelly had just left Courtenay on the highway toward the hotel."

"Well, I'd rather not just stand around and watch the steam on my breath," Johnny joined in. "Can I at least head in and get some hot chocolate from the Pirate Ship to warm me up?"

"Whoa, a hot chocolate sounds good about now," Broseph said, pulling a five-dollar bill from his jeans pocket to give to Johnny. "Round one up for me, bra."

"Yeah, could you get me one too?" Lo said, also passing Johnny a fiver. "Thanks, Johnny."

"No problem, guys," Johnny said as he took the money and went to get the hot chocolates. A few minutes later, he returned with the hot drinks for himself, Broseph and Lo in a drink tray to sip on, which helped warm them up in the three-degree weather, when Lo caught sight of something coming down the road toward the hotel.

"Hey, I think that's the Whalebus coming," Lo piped up as she recognized the familiar sight of Surfer's Paradise's shuttle bus. "They're here! They're finally here!" Within moments, the Whalebus pulled onto the hotel grounds and up the boulevard to the main entrance as Lo watched with anticipation.

A few moments after the Whalebus stopped, its entry door opened to start letting out its passengers. Among the first to get off the bus were Reef along with his mother, who had first visited Surfer's Paradise back in June during the groms' time working at the hotel and, in her original stay, had embarrassed and humiliated Reef with her public displays of affection and her revelation of some embarrassing secrets Reef had, including his real first name (Leslie), which Fin had used to her advantage to tease Reef during his mother's stay in town until he had enough after he found out his mother was dating the Kahuna, leading Reef to rebel and accuse her of cramping his style because of her presence. Reef later regretted his outburst and apologized to his mother, who came to recognize that her son was growing up and resultingly began giving him his space, and he also came to gain a new respect for her when he later learned that she convinced Fin to give up protesting against a bikini contest that Reef was to judge in, as she pointed out to Fin that it made no sense to protest something that she would fit perfectly into.

"Yo, Reef!" Broseph said as he and Johnny ran over to greet Reef with fist bumps and high fives. "Good to see you back, bro!"

"Good to be back, dudes!" Reef replied. "It's a Surfer's Paradise reunion at my favorite time of the year outside of summer."

"Hi, Mrs. Garcia," Lo greeted Reef's mother. "Nice to see you here again. Got any more stories to tell about Reef this time around?" she added with a sly grin as she looked over at Reef, who overheard what Lo asked and was cautiously looking back toward her and his mother while continuing to talk with Broseph and Johnny.

"Um, I think after what happened the last time I was here, I'll spare Reef any further embarrassment," Mrs. Garcia told Lo as Reef cracked a smile, relieved that he would not have to relive what he went through the first time out. "But if you and Fin are up for another hair and makeup session with me, then I'm definitely game."

Speaking of Fin, she and her grandmother were the next ones out of the bus with their luggage. Spotting them right away, an overjoyed Lo ran over to give a big hug to Fin, clearly happy to see her friend again. "Oh Fin, it's _sooo_ good to see you in person again!" she remarked.

"Good to see you too, Lo," Fin said as she responded to Lo's hug in kind, holding on to it for a few moments. "The moment you invited me and Grandma to come here for Christmas, there was no way I could say no."

After ending her hug with Fin, Lo then turned to greet and hug Mrs. McCloud while Broseph and Johnny had their turn with Fin. "Good to see you again too, Mrs. McCloud," Lo said.

"Same here, Lo," replied Mrs. McCloud, who likewise returned Lo's hug. "Besides the chance to try winter surfing, getting to see you and the rest of Fin's friends again was a big reason I came back with her." After that, Mrs. McCloud then turned to Broseph and hugged him. "So how've you been since the summer, Broseph?" she asked.

"Been doin' great, Mrs. McC," Broseph said before pausing a moment to take a look at Mrs. McCloud, then at Fin. "You know, I still can't get over how much you and Fin look alike in a lot of ways," he remarked, making Mrs. McCloud laugh and Fin giggle. Broseph had a point to his comment, as the older woman, except for her hair color, a few wrinkles on her face and an almost 50-year age difference, looked remarkably like her granddaughter.

"Staying active and healthy living, that's a couple of my secrets," Mrs. McCloud said. "I think laughter and having good genes play a part too," she added as she looked over to Fin, who smiled proudly as she put her arm over her grandmother's shoulders.

Next, the last of the summer staff alumni to arrive on the Whalebus, Emma, stepped out of the bus with her suitcases. Lo saw her coming and ran over to her, giving her a big hug as well. Like with Fin earlier, Lo held onto that hug with Emma for a few moments as she was clearly happy to see her. "Welcome back, Emma!" the rich girl said to the ponytailed redhead. "I'm glad you made it."

"Thanks, Lo," Emma responded as she returned Lo's hug.

"Wait a minute," Lo said as she made a realization. "Emma, you didn't bring anyone with you?"

"Sorry, but I couldn't," Emma told Lo. "Like I predicted, my parents are busy getting ready for the holidays and neither of my brothers wanted to come. My grandparents also had their own plans with a trip down to Arizona, and all my friends in Calgary had plans of their own too. I asked everyone I knew back at home, but no luck."

Noticing that Emma looked a little sad over returning to Surfer's Paradise alone, Lo made an attempt to cheer her friend up. "Well, that's okay, Emma," she said. "You're definitely not alone here. Everyone you know from the hotel is here, and we're all friends. If it helps, you could say we've become almost like a second family to each other too over the time we spent here last summer."

"She's got a point there, Emma," Johnny then said, which caught Emma's attention.

"Johnny, hey!" Emma said with a smile as she turned and greeted Johnny, who continued to work at Surfer's Paradise as a concierge (but only on the weekends due to school), with a hug. "It's been a while, how've you been?"

"Between school and working the front desk here, it's all keeping me busy," Johnny said. "How 'bout you?"

"I picked back up where I left off when I got home to Calgary, creating homemade jewelry and hanging with my friends," Emma said. "And Broseph, my very first surfing coach," she said next as she turned to Broseph and hugged him. "Still keeping in surfing shape since I left?"

"Always," Broseph replied in his laid-back Caribbean accent. "Summer or winter, I'll hit the waves when I have a chance."

"Awesome," Emma said. Turning to address Lo again, she then asked, "Lo, weren't Kelly and David supposed to be here too?"

Before Lo could answer, she looked around and spotted a car pulling up to the front entrance behind the Whalebus. "I guess we won't have to wait to find out," she replied.

As Lo figured, the moment the car stopped, Kelly and David got out and walked toward the gathered groms, Mrs. McCloud and Reef's mother. David had driven from Victoria to pick Kelly up in Nanaimo, then they had stopped in Courtenay for dinner before continuing their trek on the Comox Highway, a road connecting Courtenay to Surfer's Paradise and one of two main roads connecting the hotel, the town of Sunset Beach and Sunset Island to the outside world.

"Hey everyone, what's up?" David addressed the group as he greeted them, with handshakes for the guys and hugs for the girls, while Kelly gave out hugs all around. Turning to Fin and noticing Mrs. McCloud with her, David said to Fin's grandmother, "Well, I don't think I've had the pleasure of meeting you before."

"This is Amanda McCloud, my grandma," Fin said. "Grandma, this is David Hughes, Kelly's boyfriend."

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. McCloud," David said to her as he shook her hand.

"Same here, David," Mrs. McCloud replied. "I've heard a bit about you through Fin and how you got to know her and her friends since you met Kelly. I even heard Fin was the one who taught you and Kelly how to surf."

"That she did," David said with a nod, "and she's been a great teacher too. Kelly even learned a few surfing tricks thanks to Fin's coaching."

"I'm still trying to master some of those tricks, but Fin's been a real help to me with the surfing overall," Kelly joined in.

"Hey everybody," Lo then cut in, "instead of standing around in this cold weather, we should all head inside and get checked in and warmed up, then get together for dinner at the Pirate Ship if no one's eaten yet. Hot chocolates are on me tonight!"

"Whoa, serve me up some of that!" Reef, rubbing his hands together in anticipation, said as he and everyone else headed into the lobby with their luggage to check in.

* * *

The next day, the entire group headed out to take in a session of winter surfing as soon as the weather had warmed up sufficiently. As the only non-surfer in the group, Mrs. Garcia, Reef's mother, would watch from the shore with everybody else while each had a turn at surfing the waves. Due to the single-digit temperature outside (hovering at around five degrees outside at that point) and the water temperature being only slightly warmer, everyone who was able to surf had to wear full-body wetsuits, with long sleeves and legs, as well as wetsuit boots on their feet, for protection against the chilly weather. Before going out to the water, Lo, who had something to show the gang, took them over to the staff house area, where its former residents were greeted by a surprise when they arrived.

"Hey, uh, where did the staff house go?" Reef asked as he and everyone else looked and saw only a concrete foundation and a few pipes sticking out from the ground where the staff house once stood.

"That's what I wanted to show you," Lo said. "The old staff house is gone. After Daddy finally paid a visit there near the end of the tourist season and saw the condition the place was in and what kind of place he'd sent me to for the summer, he had it torn down shortly after the summer staff all left to go back home after Gromfest. That's also why you saw that new construction close by the hotel, not far from here - that's going to be the new staff housing when it's completed in time for the next summer tourist season."

"Oh, no way!" said Fin, looking pleasantly surprised on hearing the news. "So the 'roach motel''s finally gone? Couldn't have happened fast enough for me." As the gang began talking excitedly among themselves, Fin then asked, "And what about Bummer? He couldn't have been too happy about that."

"That's nothing compared to what happened to Bummer when Daddy saw the staff house," Lo said. "He read Bummer the riot act for keeping him in the dark over the past few years about the staff house's condition, and for letting the summer staff stay there in the shape it was without telling him about it. Well, mostly he chewed Bummer out for letting me stay in something he said 'should have been condemned five years ago' and," she continued, then imitating the voice her father used when angry, "_'isn't fit for cockroaches to live in, let alone for my little girl!_' Because of that, Daddy demoted Bummer from day manager down to concierge!" Lo then began to giggle as Reef, Fin, Broseph, Emma, Johnny, Kelly and David joined in on the laughter.

"Couldn't happen to a more deserving guy!" Fin said while laughing heartily.

"True that, yo!" Broseph added, having to wipe away a tear from laughing so hard.

"Well, enough about Bummer," Emma said after needing to take a couple of deep breaths from her own fit of laughter. "I wanna surf some waves! So, where are we going?"

"Where else would we go?" Johnny said. "The Office calls, folks! There's waves to be had for all."

"Wait, what's the Office?" a curious Mrs. McCloud asked.

"Johnny, what're you doing?" Kelly said to Johnny under her breath. "The Office is supposed to be for staff only! What do you think's gonna happen if an outsider finds out and they spread the word about it?

"Uh, Kelly, remember last summer when we let Dick Starbuck surf the Office?" Johnny pointed out, recalling the time they allowed the famed pro surfer-turned-wrestler see the Office and ride its waves. "Nothing bad came of it because he's a soul surfer and he respected the sanctity of the Office enough to not spread the word about it. Besides, as I recall, you were there with us to see him surf and you were pretty awed by it."

Kelly let out a sigh. "Yeah, you're right," she said in resignation. "He was pretty awesome out there."

"And anyway," Johnny continued, "as the keepers of the Office, we can decide who gets to see it and surf it and who doesn't. Besides, Ripper and Lance aren't here to say boo about it, are they? And," he added in an attempt to appeal to Kelly, "since you've been dating David, haven't you wanted him to check out the Office and surf it with him?"

Kelly then shrugged her shoulders and admitted defeat in her argument. "Okay, I give," she said. "David and Mrs. McCloud can surf the Office. I can trust my boyfriend and the grandmother of my surfing teacher to respect the Office too."

"Awesome!" Fin remarked as the group then began to make their way along the trail to the Office. "Grandma, you're gonna love the Office," she said to Mrs. McCloud. "It's the best surfing spot there is on Sunset Island, and one of the best anywhere. We just like to keep it between a select few, namely the summer staff."

"Oh, no need to worry, dear," Mrs. McCloud confided to Fin. "I know a thing or two about secret surfing spots and how important it is to keep them secret. I've surfed a few such places around Nova Scotia in my time."

As soon as Reef, Fin and the rest of the group reached the Office, they took a moment to take in the awesome power and beauty of nature as they watched the double-overhead waves the surf spot was known for form and roll toward the shore just before breaking. After agreeing that, due to the cold weather, the smartest thing to do would be to take only one turn each at hitting the water, each of the gang took a turn paddling out to each forming wave and surfed it before finishing out their turn with a trick, until the remaining four surfers, yet to take a try at surfing the winter-cold waves of the Office, came down to Kelly, David, Fin and Mrs. McCloud.

David was the first of the final four to paddle out and take his wave, surfing through the green room before he shot up the wave wall and did a 180, then landing on the water and riding back to shore. Kelly went next and rode along the wave face before going up off the lip and, while crouching and holding on to the left edge of her board, took a controlled, corkscrew-like spin through the air before landing, which amazed the gang and drew cheers from them as she rode her board back to shore.

"Kelly, that was incredible!" Fin said as she walked up to Kelly. "You must've been doing some serious practicing to nail a maneuver like that."

"Took every chance I could to practice that move when I was off-duty," Kelly admitted. "When I spun through the air like that, it felt like I was in a vortex."

"Hey, then that's what you should name that move," Fin said. "The Vortex - now that sounds like a name with kick for a kickin' surfing trick."

"Yeah, it does," Kelly agreed. "That's what I'll do then."

"Okay Grandma, you all set to go?" Fin asked Mrs. McCloud. "You're up next."

"Sure," Mrs. McCloud said. "But I was thinking, Fin - how about you and I take this next wave together?"

"Really?" Fin said. "You want me to ride the next wave with you?"

"Of course," Mrs. McCloud responded. "Winter surfing's something I haven't had much opportunity to do and it's something I'd like my granddaughter to share in."

Touched by her grandmother's comment, Fin smiled and glanced toward the water before looking back to her. "Sure, then," Fin agreed. "Let's do this." With that, Fin and Mrs. McCloud paddled their boards out to the next oncoming wave and began riding along the wall of water, with Mrs. McCloud taking the lead while Fin followed not far off.

"Go for it, Mrs. McCloud and Fin!" Lo called out while rooting for the McClouds from the shore. "Show us what you got!"

Picking up speed on the wave, Mrs. McCloud then shot up its face and off the lip as the wave was about to break, rocketing through the air before landing on the water and gliding back to shore, with Fin following suit and executing the same move not far behind before pulling up beside her grandmother. As everyone gathered at the Office cheered, Fin and Mrs. McCloud gave each other a congratulatory hug. "Great work Grandma, that was totally radical!" Fin said.

"Thank you, honey," Mrs. McCloud replied. "And what you did there showed me why surfing runs in our blood." After that, Lo then ran over and hugged both Fin and Mrs. McCloud on a surf well done while the rest of the group applauded the McClouds' skillful surfing on the winter waves.

* * *

After the winter surfing session at the Office, everyone returned to the hotel to get changed and warm up before Lo, Fin and Emma returned to the lobby, with a plan to get hot chocolates at the Pirate Ship. "Man, that was one excellent surf sesh earlier!" Fin exclaimed to her friends as they stood by a couch in the lobby. "It's the first time I've ever attempted winter surfing, but I got a real adrenaline rush from it."

"You're not the only one, Fin," Emma agreed. "I was a bit nervous about getting back on those waves, not just because it was winter surfing, but also because it's the first time I was back on the water since Gromfest. I thought I was gonna be rusty out there, but I surfed my wave without wiping out once. It felt great!"

"It sure did," Lo joined in. "But speaking of adrenaline rushes, guess what? When I talked with David while I was inviting Kelly and him over here, he talked about arranging a day trip over to Mount Washington for us to go skiing!"

"Really?" Emma said. "Oh, cool! I love skiing, I've even been to ski Lake Louise a few times. When's he planning to take us to Mount Washington?"

"He said he was looking at going over there on Thursday," Lo explained.

"Well, it's not quite the same as surfing," Fin said, "but I guess I could go snowboarding there. It'll help keep me in shape that way."

"Cool," Lo said. "When I see David next, I'll tell him we're in for the ski trip." Meanwhile, unknown to the girls and especially to Lo, her younger brother George was up to no good as he stealthly tied a loop of packaging string around his big sister's left ankle while she was distracted talking with her friends. The other end of that same string, which George had worked on earlier before the girls arrived, was tied around the trunk of the 25-foot lobby Christmas tree near the Lobbyquarium. George managed to escape being seen by the girls while executing the first part of his plan, as he worked behind Lo's back while Fin and Emma did not notice him due to the lobby couch being between Lo and the other girls. George then snuck off to put part two of his plan to prank Lo in motion.

"I just had an idea," Lo suggested to Fin and Emma. "After we have our hot chocolates, do you want to head over to the spa for treatments? They've got great treatments there, hot stone massages, aromatherapy massages, Swedish massages, purifying facials, body wraps, manicures, pedicures - whatever you want for beauty treatments or to get rejuvenated, they have, and it's my treat."

As Emma was about to accept Lo's spa offer, she saw something moving behind Lo. "Lo, behind you!" Emma said abruptly as she pointed behind the rich girl's back. Lo turned around - only to end up with a face full of snowball put together with shaved ice from the Pirate Ship's freezer, courtesy of George.

"Ha-ha-ha-_haaaa!_" George laughed triumphantly at the success of smacking Lo in her face with the thrown snowball. "Gotcha again, sis-twerp!"

An angry Lo emitted a growl that increased in pitch out of frustration over George's nonstop pranking and harassment of her. "You're dead meat, you little troll!" she yelled as she began chasing after her bratty brother around the lobby while Fin and Emma watched. Just as Lo was about to catch George, though, something snagged her left ankle and caused her to stumble, while she simultaneously felt something move behind her.

"Lo, WATCH OUT FOR THE TREE!" Fin yelled with a tone of urgency at her friend. Hearing Fin, Lo looked behind her and screamed as she saw the Christmas tree coming down toward her, then she instinctively jumped out of the path of the falling tree. As it came down, the top of the tree snagged against some strings of ornamental lights hanging from the lobby ceiling and pulled the lights down with it. The tree then crashed on the ground and shattered most of the ornaments that had been hanging on it, while the ends of some of the light strings, which were still plugged in, landed in the water of the Lobbyquarium and caused an electrical shock sound coming from the light strings coming in contact with the water, which led to the lobby circuit breaker tripping and cutting power to the lobby.

A couple of minutes later, power was restored to the lobby after the Christmas lights hanging from the ceiling were unplugged and the circuit breaker was turned back on. When Lo saw what happened, she was given such a fright from the extent of the damage that she began to hyperventilate due to a panic attack, forcing Emma to run to get a paper bag from the Pirate Ship. "Here Lo, breathe into this," Emma said as she handed her friend the paper bag to breathe into to help control her breathing while she and Fin rubbed her back. Along with the damaged Christmas tree and the destroyed ornaments, every fish in the Lobbyquarium, including Buster the shark, was floating belly-up at the water's surface, all dead as the result of electrocution from the Christmas lights falling into the water.

"All right, who's responsible for all this?" a fuming Bummer said as he came back from the circuit breaker panel in the hotel basement and saw the damage that had occurred, including the dead fish in the Lobbyquarium.

Right then, George immediately seized the opportunity to add insult to injury to Lo. "It was Lo!" he said to Bummer, pointing at his sister. "She brought the tree down and killed all the fish in the Lobbyquarium!" he added, conveniently leaving out that he was the one responsible for all the damage done in the lobby by his prank on Lo.

"What? NO!" Lo said in protest, trying to proclaim her innocence. "That wasn't my fault!"

"We'll just see about that!" Bummer said, grabbing Lo by her arm as he escorted her toward the elevators and took the one that led up to the Ridgemount penthouse. "I guarantee your father's not going to be too thrilled about this!" As Bummer and Lo stepped into the elevator, George quickly followed them inside and, as he looked toward Fin and Emma, he pointed his thumb toward Lo and then drew his index finger across his throat with an evil grin, while Fin and Emma directed angry glares back at George as the elevator door closed, knowing right then that Lo had been set up by George and framed for the damage caused by his prank.

* * *

A few minutes later, George was standing at the door outside Mr. Ridgemount's office, listening in while he heard yelling coming from inside, when Ty came by. Wondering what was going on, Ty asked, "Hey George, what's up?"

"Only the best thing to happen to me all Christmas break," George gloated while continuing to listen at the office door. "Dad's inside reading the riot act to Lo for what happened down in the lobby."

"Okay, what happened?" Ty wondered.

"Lo toppled the big Christmas tree in the lobby over and smashed all the ornaments on it," George admitted with a snicker, "and the tree also brought down some of the Christmas lights hanging from the ceiling and they landed in the Lobbyquarium and electrocuted all the fish in there. Man, if I could just be a fly on the wall in there and see the look on Lo's face right now, it'd be priceless! By the time Dad's done with her, she'll probably be grounded until she's 18!"

"Hold on a sec," Ty then said, beginning to get suspicious. "Did you have something to do with this?"

"What did George have to do with what?" Mrs. Ridgemount said as she then came to see what her sons were doing.

"That's what I'd like to know," Ty answered as he crossed his arms and directed a dirty look at George.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," George said, feigning innocence. "I didn't do anything - it was all Lo."

"Oh yeah?" Ty said in an accusatory tone. "Then what's that big lump in your right pants pocket?" he asked, noticing the lump there, as well as a short length of string coming from out of the pocket.

"It's nothing," George said as he attempted to back away, but Ty, sensing his brother's guilty behavior, grabbed him by the arm and pulled out the object, revealing a ball of packaging string.

"Nothing, huh?" Ty said, holding the ball of string up in George's face. "I know you too well, George. Teasing Lo is one thing, but pranking her and then framing her for the damage it causes crosses the line. You're gonna have to answer to Dad about this," he added as he then grabbed George by the back of his shirt and escorted him by force into their father's office, with Mrs. Ridgemount following. Ty's suspicions about George and his prank were then confirmed when he noticed some string tied around Lo's left ankle, the same packaging string he had found on George moments earlier.

"...I don't know where I went wrong when I was raising you," Mr. Ridgemount ranted as he continued his angry tirade toward Lo, who simply stood there meekly and said nothing. "I thought that punishing you for your party last summer by sending you to the staff house and to work to earn your money and learn the value of a dollar would be enough! I thought that you would have learned your lesson from it and shown a better appreciation for what I tried to teach you!"

"Uh, Dad," Ty attempted to interrupt as he continued to restrain a squirming George. "There's something that you need to know..."

"Not now, Tyler," Mr. Ridgemount cut him off. "I'm still talking to your sister about what happened down in the lobby. Now," he continued, turning back to Lo, "It's clear to me that spending the summer working and living in the old staff house just wasn't enough to teach you a lesson, Lauren!"

"But Daddy," Lo protested, "I told you it wasn't my fault. George threw a snowball in my face and..."

"Stop blaming your brother for what you did and accept the consequences for your actions!" Mr. Ridgemount interrupted.

"Dad, Lo's trying to tell you the truth..." Ty cut in again.

"Tyler, I said not now!" Mr. Ridgemount admonished his oldest son. Turning back to Lo, he continued his rant as his voice continued to rise, "For what you did in the lobby for starters, the cost of replacing those fish that were killed in the Lobbyquarium is coming out of your allowance, and so is the cost of that Christmas tree and all its decorations!"

"Daddy, why are you taking George's and Andy's words over mine?" Lo said, appearing on the verge of crying due to her father refusing to listen to her plead her innocence. "My friends were there and they saw what..."

"Lauren, don't interrupt me when I'm talking!" Mr Ridgemount cut her off as well. "For all the damage in the lobby, you're also going to..." As he was in the middle of his tirade, he suddenly began to sense that something was wrong as a result of the stress and anger levels he was at due to what happened earlier.

Seeing that something was wrong with his father, Ty asked as he let go of George, "Dad, you okay?"

Mr. Ridgemount, now realizing that something was wrong, was experiencing sudden chest pain which began to radiate out to his left arm, along with shortness of breath, a feeling of nausea and anxiety. "I...don't know," he said, trying to find his words. "I think...I...I...Tyler, get..." Just then, the Ridgemount patriarch fell over and collapsed and began to convulse on his office floor.

"DAD!" Ty yelled, caught by sudden shock at what he witnessed.

"Ohmigosh! DADDY, _NOOOO!_"Lo screamed as she saw her father continue his convulsions, then she began to wail and cry as she turned toward her mother, who, becoming fearful for her husband's well-being herself, took her sobbing daughter into her arms and held her.

"George, get the CPR mask from the first aid cabinet," Ty ordered his brother, who did as he was told while Ty called 911 on his cell phone. "Hi, I need an ambulance at the Ridgemount penthouse at Surfer's Paradise hotel, 5200 Beach Avenue," he said when the 911 operator answered. "We've got a heart attack victim here who's barely breathing right now."

As Mrs. Ridgemount continued to try to console and comfort a still-crying and distraught Lo, Ty was still on the phone with the 911 operator. "I'm starting CPR right now," Ty said over the phone as he began chest compressions on his father while keeping his phone to his ear with his shoulder, while George administered breaths through the CPR mask in between sets of compressions.

"Daddy," Lo, also fearing for her father's life, sobbed inconsolably while her mother continued to hold and embrace her. "Daddy, please don't die!"

Ty, meanwhile, continued working feverishly on Mr. Ridgemount with the CPR while waiting for the ambulance to arrive. "You! Are! Not! Going! To! Die! On! My! Watch!" he barked, punctuating each word he spoke with a chest compression while George continued breath administration through the mask.

* * *

**Next up, Lo and her friends contend with the immediate aftermath of her father's heart attack.**


	5. In Need of a Christmas Angel

**CHAPTER 5 - IN NEED OF A CHRISTMAS ANGEL**

**So here's Chapter Five of this story, concentrating on the immediate aftermath of how Lo copes with her father's heart attack. In this chapter, a couple of real-life locations in Victoria (where the remainder of this story takes place), the Royal Jubilee Hospital and the Empress Hotel, are featured here, but in this story, a fictional version of the real-life Empress is depicted under the ownership of Ridgemount Resorts.**

**Emperor of the Animal Kingdom - don't worry, George isn't going to get away with his prank or with framing Lo for its outcome. His comeuppance doesn't come until later, but it's going to be a well-deserved one. I won't be revealing how it happens until it comes, though.  
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Several minutes after Ty called 911 for an ambulance for his ailing father, who was in the middle of suffering a massive stress-induced heart attack, the paramedics finally arrived at the Ridgemount penthouse to tend to Mr. Ridgemount and administer emergency aid before they took him by ambulance to the Sunset Beach Medical Centre, the town's small local hospital. After she was able to calm a distressed Lo down following her crying spell, Mrs. Ridgemount took George with her as she took the family's limousine over to the hospital to keep an eye on her husband's condition while Lo and Ty remained behind to wait for word from their mother. While she was genuinely worried for her father, Lo felt it was best that George went off to the hospital with their mother because she was extremely angry with him, blaming him for causing the heart attack Mr. Ridgemount had by way of his prank on her, then framing her for its outcome.

About forty minutes after arriving at the hospital, Mrs. Ridgemount called Lo and Ty with an update on Mr. Ridgemount's condition. With some emotion in her voice, the Ridgemount siblings' mother reported that their father had suffered cardiac arrest while being treated for his heart attack. While the emergency room personnel were able to save Mr. Ridgemount, they were left with no choice but to have him taken by air ambulance helicopter to Victoria, to the Royal Jubilee Hospital there, which was well-equipped in cardiac medicine and would be sufficiently able to help him. While Lo was relieved that her father had survived cardiac arrest, her worries about his health and well-being resumed when she heard about him being taken to Victoria.

After she returned with George from the hospital in Sunset Beach, Mrs. Ridgemount made arrangements for the family to take the Ridgemount private jet down to Victoria so they could be near Mr. Ridgemount. In addition, Mrs. Ridgemount arranged for Lo's friends, along with Reef, Fin and Kelly's respective loved ones, to take the seaplane to Victoria due to the limited room the Ridgemount jet had, so they could be with Lo in her time of need, which her mother recognized and understood.

Upon arrival in Victoria, the Ridgemount family and Lo's friends went to stay at another of the Ridgemount Resorts properties, the Empress Hotel. The Ridgemounts stayed at their three-bedroom Executive Suite overlooking Victoria's inner harbor, with a large living/dining room for entertaining, a luxurious main bathroom with a heated floor, a master bedroom with a king-sized bed, ensuite bathroom and walk-in closet for Mrs. Ridgemount, a bedroom with a queen-sized bed for Lo, a bedroom with two double beds for Ty and George, and widescreen TVs in each room. Reef and his mother got a room with two double beds, as did Fin and Mrs. McCloud, while Kelly and David got a suite with a king-sized bed and Emma, Broseph and Johnny each got standard guest rooms with queen-sized beds, all with deluxe bathrooms and widescreen TVs.

* * *

Up at the Ridgemounts' Executive Suite, Lo was by herself in the living room while her mother, Ty and George were over at Royal Jubilee Hospital to wait for word on Mr. Ridgemount's condition. Lo had wanted to see her father and how he was doing, but she opted to remain behind at the hotel instead because she wanted nothing to do with George after what he did to get her in trouble and to cause their dad's heart attack, so Mrs. Ridgemount promised to call her when she got any news about Mr. Ridgemount.

Lo was sitting on one of the living room sofas, listening to Christmas music from one of the Victoria radio stations on the stereo while she contemplated what gifts to buy for her family and her friends (except for George, whom she considered getting a stocking filled with coal instead), when her cell phone began to ring. Recognizing her mother's number, she answered right on the second ring. "Mom?" she said.

"Hi, honey," Mrs. Ridgemount replied. "Are you feeling okay?"

"About as fine as I can feel after what happened," Lo said. "Any word on Daddy?"

"That's what I wanted to tell you about," Mrs. Ridgemount said. "The personnel at the Cardiac Unit had to artificially induce your father into a coma because of the extent of his condition. They had to do it in order to allow him to heal while they continue treating him, to hopefully prevent another cardiac episode from happening."

Lo was speechless when she heard the words "induce" and "coma" come from her mother. There was an awkward silence for a moment before Mrs. Ridgemount asked, "Lo? Sweetie, are you still there?"

"Yeah, I'm...still here," Lo answered.

"Listen, I'm going to be here at the hospital a while so I can fill out some paperwork for your father," Mrs. Ridgemount said. "After that, I can come pick you up so we can go out for a bite to eat for dinner. Is that okay?"

"Sorry Mom, I don't really feel hungry right now," Lo said. "I'll probably order room service later on."

Mrs. Ridgemount sensed that something else was troubling Lo, outside of the obvious reason. "Is there anything else bothering you, dear?" she asked. "Ever since we took the jet down here, I got the sense that there's been tension between you and George. You hardly said two words to each other on the jet, or even on the way to the hotel, and you kept your distance from him the whole time. Does it have to do with what happened that Ty found out about earlier?"

"Umm...can we talk about it later, Mom?" Lo said. "I'm not really up to it either. All I wanted to know was how Daddy's doing."

"Well, okay then, sweetie," Mrs. Ridgemount said. "If anything changes in the next little while, I'll be in touch."

"Okay Mom, I'll see you later," Lo said before she hung up. Placing her cell phone on the coffee table in front of the sofa, she stood up and began pacing the living room floor in the middle of a Christmas song playing on the stereo at that moment, a particularly sad song that ended up resonating with the way Lo was feeling then:

_Oh my Christmas tree's so sad and bare_  
_My room's so big and cold_  
_They wish me Happy New Year_  
_But the New Year's already old_

_There's no little angel_  
_On top where it used to be_  
_'Cause the angel that made my Christmas right_  
_Has gone away from me_

_'Cause the angel that made my Christmas right_  
_Has gone away from me_

As she sat against the back edge of the sofa, the combination of the song's sad, yet beautiful, lyrics and music, combined with the way she was feeling and her worries about her father and his health, became too much for a saddened Lo to take and ended up overwhelming her emotionally. As the song was ending, Lo began to cry, sobbing with sorrow as tears flowed freely from her eyes and down her cheeks. She buried her face in her hands and continued to weep over the thought of the possibility of losing her father, when a knock came at the door to the suite's main entrance.

"Lo?" a female voice called from outside. "Lo, are you in there?"

Recognizing the voice from outside immediately, Lo wiped away her tears and got up to sprint to the door. "Just a second, I'm coming!" she called to the door.

Lo then unlocked the door and, upon opening it, saw Fin standing in the hallway. "Hey Lo, hope you don't mind me showing up unexpectedly like this," Fin said as she walked into the suite and took her shoes off by the door before walking into the living room. "Ty called me earlier and told me this was where you guys would be. Anyway, you wouldn't believe the weather outside right now - it just started snowing like a couple of minutes ago and..."

As Fin turned around, her conversation trailed off when she noticed Lo, who had begun looking sad again. "You okay, Lo?" the blonde tomboy asked her friend. "What's wrong?"

At that point, Lo was unable to continue holding in her emotions and she resumed crying. Instantly feeling compassion, Fin walked over and took a weeping Lo into her arms, holding and cuddling her as she did her best to console her. "It's okay, Lo," Fin said in a quiet voice while continuing to hug her. "I know how you're feeling, I really do."

Lo was sobbing softly while leaning her head against Fin's and also hugging her, needing her friend's emotional strength. "I...I just heard f-f-from Mom at th-the h-h-hospital earlier," Lo stammered through her tears. "I f-found out that Daddy's in a c-c-coma."

"What?" Fin said, pulling away momentarily to look Lo in her eyes. "He's in a coma? For real?"

Lo nodded her head while her lower lip trembled. "Th-they had to induce a coma to make sure h-he wouldn't suffer another cardiac arrest like he did b-b-back in S-Sunset Beach," she said before she began to bawl again.

Right then, Fin drew Lo close again in another hug, this time stroking her friend's head while trying to calm and comfort her. "I'm sorry, Lo," Fin said softly. "I'm so sorry."

"I'm scared, Fin," Lo said in between sobs. "I'm really s-s-scared."

"I know," Fin said, stepping back a moment to use her index finger to wipe away a tear trail from Lo's left cheek. "I know it's not easy for you, being scared about your dad and all."

"It's more than that," Lo said as she then walked away toward the living room window and drew the curtains apart to look out at the inner harbor and watch the snow falling outside, as Fin had told her earlier. "I'm frightened. I don't know what I'll do if anything happens to him. On top of that, if I end up losing Daddy this close to Christmas, I'm afraid I'll have one less favorite holiday to celebrate."

Fin could not help but have a quiet laugh over Lo's comment, but she understood what she meant. "I know, it would suck to lose a family member over the holidays," she admitted as she walked over to join Lo in front of the window, putting her arm over Lo's shoulders. "But I think the best thing to do right now is hope for the best, hope that your dad will pull through this and be all right after it's all said and done."

Lo closed her eyes for a moment, shedding another tear in the process, before opening them again and looking out to the inner harbor for another moment, then turning her head to look at Fin. "You really think so?" she said.

"I do," Fin replied with a nod. "And hey, if you need someone to lean on when things look bad, you know you've got your mom, or Emma, or me. That's what we're here for."

Lo closed her eyes again and let out a sigh of relief. "Thanks, Fin," she said. "I really appreciate it. Could you do something for me, though?"

"Sure," Fin said. "What is it?"

Lo paused a moment before answering. "Just...hold me, please?" she asked Fin. "I don't want to be alone right now."

A small smile crossed Fin's face as she felt another wave of compassion come over her. "Of course," she agreed as she then drew Lo into an embrace from behind, putting her left arm around Lo's waist and letting her right hand rest on her friend's left shoulder. Lo, feeling vulnerable over what happened to her father, wanted someone to cuddle with, to comfort her and to make her feel safe and protected, and with her mother not there at that point to give her solace, Fin was exactly who she needed.

"Feeling better, Lo?" Fin asked.

"I'm starting to, thanks," Lo said, leaning into Fin's reverse hug as she put her lower right arm across Fin's left while putting her left hand on top of Fin's right hand, a show of appreciation for her efforts to comfort her in her time of need.

"Think of this as me paying you back for what you did for me back in August," Fin said soothingly to Lo. "As long as you want me to, I'm here for you."

"Thank you, thank you so much," Lo replied softly. "I love you, Fin."

"I love you too, Lo," Fin said in return as she and Lo remained in the embrace, looking out at the snow falling outside the hotel. The two girls continued watching the snow fall when a knock came at the suite door a few moments later.

"Sounds like someone's at the door," Fin said. "Do you want to get it, or should I? Or maybe, should we just ignore it completely?"

"I don't know," Lo said. "It could be important. It could be Emma, or Broseph, or any of the others. I think I will go get it."

"Okay," Fin said, letting go of Lo. Before she walked to the door though, Lo turned around and put her hand on Fin's upper left arm.

"Thank you again," Lo said softly with a smile, looking into Fin's eyes. "I appreciate what you're doing for me."

Fin then gave Lo a kiss on her cheek. "My pleasure," she said before Lo walked over to the door as a second knock came.

As soon as Lo reached the door, saw who was standing outside through the peephole and opened it, she found Kelly and David standing outside the door. "Hey Lo, Emma told us what happened with your dad after your mom told her," David said. "How're you feeling?"

"A bit better than I was earlier," Lo said as she invited David and Kelly in. "Fin's here too. She helped me because I was feeling bad after my mom called to let me know how my dad was doing."

"How is he?" Kelly asked.

"He's in a coma," Lo explained. "The doctors at the hospital had to induce a coma in him to allow him to heal while they treat him."

"Oh, sorry to hear that," David said as Lo went over to hug him. "Which hospital's he at?"

"Royal Jubilee, in the Cardiac Unit," Lo told him.

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Kelly said.

"Well, you're both here, that's a big help to me," Lo said as she then hugged Kelly.

As Kelly and David stepped inside the suite, its entrance door was closing slowly when a Caribbean-accented voice could be heard calling from down the hallway, getting louder as it got closer. "Wait! Don't close the door yet!" the voice called. Just as the door was about to close, a foot wedged its way in and blocked the door, enabling Broseph to get inside the door with the cargo he was carrying, a large pizza and a 12-pack case of Pepsi, along with paper plates. "Man, that was a close call," Broseph said.

"Broseph, you brought pizza over?" Lo asked.

"Sure did, chiquita," Broseph confirmed. "Emma told me 'bout your dad and his heart attack, so I figured you might want something to munch on later if you didn't eat yet."

"Oh, sweet!" Fin said as she looked to see Broseph bringing in the pizza and pop. "I could really go for a slice right now. What did you get?"

"Picked up one of the classics," Broseph said as he opened the pizza box to reveal his choice. "Pepperoni pizza with a double helping of pepperoni."

"_Mmmm_, don't mind if we do then," Kelly said, savoring the smell of the pepperoni as the gang gathered around the dinner table to dig into the pizza.

* * *

"So your brother George tried to frame you for all the damage done in the hotel lobby by that prank he pulled on you?" David asked Lo after he swallowed a bite of pizza.

"It's all true," Lo said. "Ty figured out what he did and he was about to bust George to our dad for it when Daddy had his heart attack."

"Emma and I were there when it happened and when we saw George get in the elevator with Lo and Bummer, he gestured at her with an evil grin while he looked at us," Fin joined in, "so that told us right away that George had something to do with the lobby incident."

"Bummer's an idiot," Kelly remarked. "How could he take the word of that rugrat over Lo's word?"

"That's Bummer for you," Broseph added after sipping from a can of Pepsi to wash down a bite of his pizza slice. "He never liked the groms very much when we were working there last summer. Lo's the boss's daughter, but Bummer didn't care 'bout that and it sure didn't help her much when she had to work with us, or even now."

"Well that's just not right," David pointed out. "Lo shouldn't have to pay the price for all the trouble George caused her, and that includes Mr. Ridgemount's heart attack."

"So how do I get George back for what he did to me?" Lo asked. "He can be a really clever little sneak when he wants to be, which is like all the time."

"I think we can come up with a way if we pool our efforts together," David said with a smirk. "I can also be pretty persuasive when it's needed."

"Count me in too then," Fin agreed. "Reef won't be hard to convince to join us either because he hates George too. And Emma, I think she's a given to join us too."

"Same here," Broseph then weighed in. "If you need someone to pull a prank on somebody for revenge, I'm your dude."

"Even if I'm not working at the Pirate Ship right now, I still have some pull over there," Kelly joined in. "So next time George orders something from room service, I could arrange to...you know, have a 'special ingredient' put into whatever he orders, if you need me to," she added with a sly grin.

"Thanks, guys," Lo said. "I'm glad to know I've got some people in my corner to help me deal with George." Checking the time on the clock on the living room wall, she then said, "I'd sure like to get over to the hospital to see how Daddy's doing, but it sucks that I don't have some wheels to drive over there."

"How come you didn't go there with your family when you first arrived?" Fin asked.

"To sum it up in one word - George," Lo said.

"Ah, okay," Fin said with a nod, with Broseph, Kelly and David also in understanding agreement.

"If you need a ride over there, Lo, that's not a problem," David offered. "I can contact my dad's limousine to come pick us up here and take us out there. We'll even go with you if you want us to, so you won't have to deal with George alone."

"Thanks David, that's nice of you to offer," Lo said. "Let's go get ready then."

As the gang went to get their coats and shoes, Fin asked, "Hey David, could you wait for me a few minutes? I gotta head back down to my room to talk to my grandma. Would you mind if she came along with us too?"

"Sure, she can come too," David said. "There's plenty of room in the limo anyway. Besides, with the snow coming down outside, it might take a few extra minutes for it to arrive than it normally would, so we may have to wait a bit."

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"Hey Grandma, I'm back," Fin said as she returned to her and Mrs. McCloud's guest room a couple of minutes after leaving the Ridgemount suite. "Gotta say, the Ridgemounts really know how to live when they go travelling. They got some really swanky digs on the top floor."

"I can imagine," Mrs. McCloud said with a laugh. "How's Lo doing?"

"She was feeling pretty bad when I went up to see her," Fin explained as she sat down on her bed. "Her mom called to tell her that her dad's in a coma at the hospital. That's the reason I figure she started crying after that, so I stayed a while to try to help her feel better."

"That's good, helping Lo out when she needed you," Mrs. McCloud said. "I'm sorry to hear about her dad though. Did she tell you how his condition is?"

"She heard that the doctors at the cardiac unit he's in had to induce the coma to help him heal while they treat him," Fin said. "Lo even said she's worried that he might not make it." As she explained the situation to her grandmother, Fin began experiencing memories of what happened to her own father last August, and it began to affect her emotionally.

"It sounds that bad, does it?" Mrs. McCloud wondered.

"I know," Fin replied, her voice beginning to break as the memories of her father weighed on her mind. "I told Lo to hope for the best for her dad, to hope that...that he gets...better..." At that point, the memories coming back to her, combined with the thoughts about Lo and her situation with Mr. Ridgemount and his well-being, broke Fin down and, like Lo before her, she began to cry, tears streaming down her face as she began sobbing.

Seeing Fin crying, a concerned Mrs. McCloud went over and sat down beside her granddaughter. "Fin, are you okay?" she asked.

"It's about Dad," Fin sobbed. "I just started thinking about him and what happened to him back in August." As Fin wept, Mrs. McCloud let her granddaughter lean her head on her shoulder as she put her arms around Fin to hold and comfort her. "It's not fair what happened to Dad," Fin said. "It's just not fair!"

"I know it's not fair, honey," Mrs. McCloud said, rubbing a still-crying Fin's shoulder and rocking her gently while holding her. "You're right, what happened wasn't fair at all." A distraught Fin still remembered the time, like it only happened yesterday, when she was enjoying a day off at Surfer's Paradise when she got a call from her mother back in Halifax, saying that her father had been in a car accident the night before, involving a drunk driver running a red light, as he was returning home from shopping in downtown Halifax. Fin also remembered breaking down and crying after she heard that, despite the best efforts of paramedics and then doctors to save him, her father had died of his injuries in hospital some time before she got the phone call. Also, to make matters worse, Fin had been unable to return to Halifax for her father's funeral because Bummer was unwilling to let her take time off from work, a grievance which she held against Bummer since then. All those memories continued to flood Fin's mind as she continued to cry on her grandmother's shoulder.

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**Next chapter, Lo runs into more problems with George while trying to see her father, Emma shares a (non-romantic) moment with Ty, and Lo gets more words of encouragement from another friend.**

**Partial song lyrics above are from "My Christmas Tree", written by Jimmy Webb. I don't own the song, I just included it here as a backdrop to what Lo was going through emotionally at that point.  
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	6. Lights in the Darkness

**CHAPTER 6 - LIGHTS IN THE DARKNESS**

**Here's Chapter Six at last. **

**Emperor of the Animal Kingdom - My inclusion of Bummer's refusal to allow Fin to go to her father's funeral back home in Halifax in the previous chapter is a nod to the Season Two episode "Sick Day", where Fin tried to get out of work to go surfing one time by telling Bummer that her grandfather had "died", and he forced her to prove it by producing a corpse, so she did so by rounding up Mr. Grizzle (who was sleeping at that point) and pretending that he was her dead grandpa, only for him to wake up and mess up Fin's get-out-of-work scheme. Operating on the premise that this also happened in my storyline timeline (with Season Two happening during July of the groms' summer employment at Surfers' Paradise, and the first season being June), Bummer would have remembered what Fin did that time and thus refused to allow her to leave work to return home for the funeral, assuming it was just another excuse to slack off. And being the dictator that he is, he would also have refused to listen to Fin's pleas to leave for the funeral until after it was too late, at which point Fin would have angrily told him off for making her miss it and for generally being callous and uncaring about the staff's collective well-being.**

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After Mrs. McCloud successfully comforted and calmed Fin from her newly-recurred grief over the loss of her father months ago, the McClouds returned to the Ridgemount suite to meet Lo, Broseph, Kelly and David, then went down to the Empress Hotel's lobby to wait for David's father's limousine to arrive. When the limo came to pick the group up and they were on their way to Royal Jubilee Hospital, David phoned Emma to let her know that he and the others were taking Lo there to see her father, to then be told by Emma that she, Reef and his mother and Johnny were already on their way to the hospital themselves by taxi, as they had been called by Ty to come over.

On the limo ride to the hospital, Fin, who was sitting next to Lo, got a sense that she seemed nervous about going to see Mr. Ridgemount over there. "Lo, are you feeling okay about doing this?" she asked.

"Not really," Lo admitted. "Partly because I'm worried about seeing Daddy hooked up to all those machines..."

"There's nothing to worry about with that," Fin reassured Lo. "It's all part of what's necessary for your dad's treatment for his heart attack."

"I know," Lo said. "But not only that, I really don't want to deal with George, not after he lied to Bummer and then to Daddy about me and what happened back at Surfer's Paradise after he pranked me."

"Well, you'll have to face George eventually," Fin said. "But don't worry, we know the truth about what happened because Emma and I were there with you when he pranked you and then framed you for the damage he caused with it, and Ty figured out what George did, like you said. The truth _will_ come out eventually. Besides," she continued, taking Lo's hand in hers, "you know we've got your back."

"Thanks Fin, that means a lot," Lo said with an appreciative smile. To give moral and emotional support, Fin continued holding Lo's hand the rest of the way to the hospital, with Lo interlacing her fingers with Fin's while doing so.

The Hughes limousine eventually pulled up near the Royal Jubilee main entrance, where Lo and the others spotted Reef, Emma and Johnny, who had already arrived ahead of them, close by. To Lo's chagrin, however, George was also out near the main entrance, playing a handheld video game console.

As everyone stepped out of the limousine, Fin said to David, "You and Kelly go on ahead. We'll join you in a little bit after we talk to Lo."

"Okay, we'll see you inside," David replied as he and Kelly headed toward the main entrance doors into the main foyer.

Fin then turned to Lo. "Okay, are you ready to do this?" she asked her friend.

"If you need another minute or so, we can wait," Mrs. McCloud joined in. "There's no rush."

Lo took a couple of deep breaths to try to relieve any anxiety she had. Once she felt mentally ready, she said to the others, "Okay, let's go." As she walked with Fin, Mrs. McCloud and Broseph toward the main entrance, Lo still felt a little bit anxious, but she felt it would pass once she was inside, where she would meet with her mother and Ty to see her father.

As George looked up from his game, he spotted Lo walking toward the main entrance with the rest of the group. He then pocketed the game in his coat as he got an idea to add further insult to injury to his big sister. "Well, well, look who decided to show up!" he remarked snidely to Lo.

"Not now George, I'm not in the mood!" Lo said tersely.

"Ignore him and keep walking, Lo," Fin said, _sotto voce_. "He's not worth it."

"So it wasn't enough that you had to destroy the Christmas tree in the hotel lobby and kill all the fish in the Lobbyquarium, was it?" George continued, heaping on the abuse.

"I'm warning you, you little troll," Lo warned George, her voice rising. "I _mean it!_"

"Keep chill Lo, don't give him the satisfaction," Broseph advised.

"You had to go and cause Dad to have a heart attack, didn't you?" George, not knowing when to quit, then said. "Why are you here now, come to finish the job?" he added before laughing mean-spiritedly.

George's last comment was the final straw for Lo, who then charged screaming at her bratty younger brother with the intent of pounding some sense into him. Fortunately before any physical violence occurred, everyone else stepped in to restrain the two quarreling siblings, with Fin, Broseph and Mrs. McCloud restraining an angry Lo while Reef, Johnny and Emma held back George.

"You take back what you said, you little brat!" Lo yelled as she struggled to get at George. "Don't you DARE lie to Daddy or anyone else about me!"

"NO!" George spat back, still determined to shift the blame for his wrongdoing to Lo. "You deserve what you get! Every bit of it!"

"I hate you, George!" Lo then screamed. "You don't even care! I HATE YOU!" Clearly upset over George's nasty comments to her, Lo broke away from those restraining her and ran to the main entrance and inside the hospital, crying the whole way.

While George gloated over getting under Lo's skin yet again with a self-satisfied smile, everyone else around him glared angrily at him. "Are you happy now?" an annoyed Emma said as she walked up to him.

"Very," George said smugly.

"So you don't even care that you lied to your dad about your sister _and_ you made her cry?" Emma then said.

"Not a bit," George added, grinning as he watched a frustrated Emma storm away while growling under her breath. His smile was quickly wiped off his face, though, when he felt a hard slap to the back of his head. "Ow!" he said, rubbing the spot where he was smacked. "What gives?"

"Jerkwad!" snapped an angry Fin, who had delivered the slap. "Where do you get off being so cruel to your sister?" Fin then walked away with the rest of the group to go inside.

"_Sheesh_, what's her problem?" George, oblivious to the fact that he himself was the problem, said as the group walked away.

* * *

A few minutes later, Emma, who was still angry at George over his treatment of Lo, arrived in the hospital's Intensive Care Unit area, where Ty had told her his father was staying while he was in his coma. Upon arriving at Mr. Ridgemount's room, Emma looked inside the room and found Ty and Mrs. Ridgemount there, sitting at the Ridgemount patriarch's bedside.

When she heard footsteps stop at the door, Mrs. Ridgemount turned her head and saw Emma there. "Oh, hi Emma," Mrs. Ridgemount greeted the redhaired girl. "I'm glad you made it here. Where's everyone else?"

"Last I saw, everyone else was still outside," Emma explained. "I came over by cab with Reef and his mom and with Johnny, and Lo came with the others by limo. I just came by to talk to Ty, if that's okay with him."

Mrs. Ridgemount looked over to Ty, who had watched his mother talk with Emma and gave his okay with a nod. "Okay, dear," she said to Emma. "I'll leave you two alone while I go look for George. Is he still outside?"

"That's where I saw him last, outside the main entrance," Emma said. "I'm not too happy with him right now because he said some mean things to Lo about her dad and made her cry. The rest of us had to keep the two of them apart to keep Lo from pounding George, then Lo ran crying inside the hospital and I haven't seen her since."

"Then I'd better have a word with George when I find him," Mrs. Ridgemount said with a sigh, just before she stepped out to look for her youngest son. "I'll see you two after."

Emma then took Mrs. Ridgemount's seat next to Ty by the unconscious Mr. Ridgemount's bed, where he was hooked up to machines monitoring his condition while breathing through an oxygen mask. After an awkward moment of silence between the two, Emma asked Ty, "So...how're you feeling right now?"

"Well," Ty said, glancing over to Emma, "I'm just glad that Dad's alive, even if he's in a coma. The paramedics told me back at the penthouse that it was my quick thinking and knowledge of CPR, along with George acting in tandem with me, that helped save Dad."

"Good, I'm glad for that," Emma said, giving Ty a small smile.

"Dad's not out of the woods yet though," Ty then said. "The doctors have to monitor him to make sure he doesn't have another cardiac arrest or another heart attack. Another one of those could possibly kill him, that's why they had to induce his coma while they treat him."

"I'm sorry, Ty," Emma said, putting her hand on his shoulder. "If it helps, I've kept him in my thoughts since I first heard from your mom that he suffered that heart attack. We all want him to get better, so keeping good thoughts and hoping for the best should make a difference."

"Thanks, Emma," Ty said. "You're right too, we _do_ all want him to get better, but none more so than Lo. I know she really loves Dad, that's why I'm bugged about George claiming that Lo had caused all that damage in the lobby back at Surfer's Paradise when it's clear to me now that George was the real culprit with that prank of his and with setting her up to take the fall for it." Pausing for a moment, he then asked, "So what exactly did George say to Lo outside that made her cry like you told Mom?"

"He claimed that Lo caused your dad's heart attack and that she came to 'finish the job'," Emma said with a hint of anger in her voice. "He said that to her with such conviction and malice, and without a hint of regret, that _I_ felt like dropping George myself, both on general principle and for how mean he treats her."

Ty let out a frustrated sigh as he shook his head. "George is gonna pay for this," he swore to Emma. "By the time I'm done with him, he's gonna wish he never even thought of pulling that prank on Lo."

"There might be a way to get George back for what he did," Emma said. "David told me about it when he called me from his dad's limo on the way here, so all we have to do is ask him how." She then flashed a smile at Ty, who smiled back understandingly.

* * *

Meanwhile, over at the hospital's Pemberton Memorial Chapel, Lo was sitting in a back pew of the chapel, crying softly. She was thinking about her father and his condition and whether he would make it, but she was also replaying the nasty, mean-spirited comments George made to her outside in her mind. Before long, Broseph, who had been searching for Lo inside the hospital's common areas since she ran inside, was passing by the chapel entrance on the second floor when he overheard crying coming from inside, then he ventured into the chapel and found Lo there.

"Hey Lo, figured I'd find you here sooner or later," Broseph said upon spotting her. "You okay, girl?"

"No," Lo replied with a sniffle. "I don't feel okay. I just came up here to find someplace quiet, to get away from George."

"Oh yeah," Broseph said as he took a seat in the pew beside Lo. "That stuff he said to you outside. I wouldn't pay any mind to it, he's just tryin' to get your goat."

Lo let out a sigh. "I know, I shouldn't let him get to me like that," she admitted. "But it's the way he said it that did it. He made it sound so convincing and malicious, I couldn't help but get angry at him. If you guys hadn't stopped me, I would've punted him clear across the street like a football, that's how mad I was at him."

Broseph chuckled at Lo's explanation of how she was feeling, but he understood. "I get what you mean," he said. "Sometimes I wonder myself why Grommet hangs out with him. When he's not around George, he's actually a pretty decent kid," he added, talking about his own younger brother. "But are you mad at George because your dad and Bummer believed his story and not you?"

Lo sniffed again at the thought of that as a tear ran down her cheek. "That's a big part of it," she said. "I'm not surprised about Bummer, but of all people, I thought Daddy would know better than to take George's word for it." After a brief pause, she added, "But what really worries me is, what if something happens to Daddy and he never gets to hear the truth about what George did?"

"It's like Fin said back at the limo, the truth will come out in time," Broseph reassured Lo. "And I'm sure it will too, 'cause Johnny told me downstairs earlier that he's got a secret weapon stored on his laptop to show your dad when he's out of his coma, something that's gonna insure George gets what's coming to him when the time comes."

Lo gasped with surprise when she heard that piece of news. "Is that true?" she asked.

"Sure as we're sitting here, yo," Broseph confirmed.

Lo then let out a happy squeal. Remembering that she was still inside the chapel, she then hugged Broseph as she said softly, "Oh, thank you, Broseph! Thank you, thank you, thank you!"

"Hey, anything I can do to help, that's what I'm here for," Broseph said.

"Believe me, I'm totally grateful for your help," Lo said before she kissed Broseph on his cheek. She then asked, "Would you stay here with me a while, Broseph? I could use a little company while I think about things here."

"Sure, why not?" Broseph agreed. "That's what this chapel's for anyway, a place of sanctuary to pray, to escape stress over illness and its treatments, to contemplate, to process your thoughts, and to seek out peace and serenity." Lo and Broseph remained seated in that back pew a while, talking about her father and his condition, how she felt about the situation and what she could do to deal with it.

* * *

**Coming up next chapter, will George finally get his comeuppance for his mean-spirited treatment of Lo? Also, Reef and Fin have a moment, and someone in the gang plays "secret Santa" to Lo.**

**Thanks for all the reviews so far**. **Even though the holidays have now passed, I've still got at least a couple of chapters to go in this story before its resolution and before I get back to work on the currently in-progress "Grandma's Got Stoke!".**


	7. Tis the Season for Payback

**CHAPTER 7 - 'TIS THE SEASON FOR PAYBACK**

**Here's the chapter you've all been waiting for, the one where George finally gets what's coming to him for his bratty behavior toward Lo. For a little variety in this chapter, I've also added in some ReeFin goodness later in.**

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* * *

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A few days after Mr. Ridgemount was flown from Sunset Beach to Victoria for hospitalization and treatment of his heart attack, his doctors informed Mrs. Ridgemount of their plan to slowly bring him out of his coma by reducing, then eliminating, the coma-inducing drug they had used as part of his heart attack treatment in hopes of having improved his condition. While she was relieved to hear this news, Mrs. Ridgemount was still concerned about the potential for her husband suffering another, possibly fatal, heart attack if he came under more major stress before he fully recovered from the first one, being aware of him being under stress at the time of his heart attack days earlier. Because she knew how Lo felt about her father, Mrs. Ridgemount also worried about how such an event would affect her daughter if it happened.

It was just before noon on a Saturday morning, December 18, exactly one week before Christmas. Usually on Saturdays, Mr. Ridgemount was either away on a weekend trip out of town, bringing his family with him whenever possible, or when he could not get away, he would make plans with his wife for a night on the town, either in Sunset Beach or out in Campbell River or Courtenay. Mrs. Ridgemount always looked forward to those nights out when her husband was in town, or even when they were away at one of his out-of-town hotels where they could enjoy dinner and dancing, or go see a movie and enjoy a late dinner out afterward. This Saturday, however, she would be spending that time at her husband's bedside in the Intensive Care Unit at Royal Jubilee Hospital, keeping a vigil and hoping for the best for him.

At that point though, Mrs. Ridgemount was on her way to the fifth-floor waiting room near the ICU, where she knew Lo would be watching TV, to check in on her. When she stepped into the waiting room though, Mrs. Ridgemount found Lo curled up on the waiting room's couch, fast asleep with her coat draped over her as a makeshift blanket. Walking up to the couch to watch Lo sleeping, her mother sighed contentedly and thought, _That's good, Lo. I know you haven't been sleeping too well the last few days because you're worried about your father, so I'm glad you're able to at least grab a nap when you can._ Bending down toward Lo, Mrs. Ridgemount kissed her beloved daughter on the cheek and said quietly to her, "Sleep well, angel. You've earned it after all the worry you've been through."

After Mrs. Ridgemount left the waiting room, Lo, although she was sleeping, had subconsciously felt the kiss and heard her mother's words, and she smiled.

* * *

A few minutes later, while Lo was still sleeping on the waiting room couch, George poked his head into the room and saw his big sister there. Noticing that no one else was in the waiting room then, he then snuck into the room with a snicker, carrying a small bowl with him. Walking up quietly to the side of the couch, George set the bowl, which contained warm water, down on the floor by the end of the couch where Lo's head was. With another laugh, George said to himself, "Sometimes she just makes it too easy," then he removed Lo's right hand from under the cover of her coat and prepared to pull the "Hand in warm water" prank on her, planning to add another humiliating insult against her to his list.

Just as George was about to lower Lo's hand into the bowl of warm water, however, another hand shot in under her wrist and stopped her hand from going into the water, then moved it away from the bowl and pulled the bowl out of harm's way. "What the...?" a surprised and bewildered George said, then he turned to see who had foiled his attempted prank on Lo.

"Guess who?" Ty said with a grin the moment George saw who was behind him. Realizing he had been caught red-handed, George bolted from the waiting room and took off running down the ICU hallway, with Ty in pursuit. While looking behind him to see Ty after him, George did not look where he was going and did not get far before he ran into something and fell backward to the floor.

Shaking off the fall, George turned his head to see what he had run into and saw David towering over him with his arms crossed, looking down at the bratty kid. "Hey George, what's up? Or rather, what's down?" David said with a smirk.

Ty then caught up to George. "Hey David, thanks for stopping George's escape," the eldest Ridgemount son said in gratitude.

"Not a prob," David replied, "especially after what I heard he's been doing."

"I have no idea what you're talking about," George said, trying to deny his wrongdoing as he got back to his feet.

"Oh, I think you do," David retorted, playing it cool. "I understand that you were the one who pulled that prank on Lo that damaged the Christmas tree in the Surfer's Paradise lobby and killed all the fish in the Lobbyquarium after the tree snagged some Christmas lights hanging from the ceiling and pulled them into the fish tank and electrocuted all the fish in there, then you tried to get her in trouble with your dad by framing her for all the damage. How am I doing so far?"

"You're wrong," a slightly nervous George said, even though he knew David was right on the money. "I didn't do it, it was all Lo!"

"That's not how I heard it," David continued. "I also heard from Ty that he found a ball of packaging string in your pocket, then he saw a piece of the same kind of string tied around Lo's ankle while your dad was lecturing her. Fin also told me she and Emma caught you throwing a snowball in Lo's face to get her to chase after you and cause the tree to fall down, after you tied one end of the string around her ankle and the other end around the tree."

"Anybody coulda tied that string around her ankle, and I found that string on the lobby floor _after_ the tree fell down," George continued to lie.

"Then after Kelly and I saw Lo run crying past us in the main foyer on Monday, Emma and Fin told us you blamed Lo for causing the heart attack your dad suffered, then laughed about it afterward," David said. "Not cool, kid. Ty, what was George running away from you for when he ran into me?" he then asked as he looked to Ty.

"Oh, he was trying to make Lo wet herself while she was sleeping in the waiting room by pulling the old 'Hand in warm water' prank on her," Ty reported, smirking as George looked his way. "I caught him in the act before he could do it and that's when he tried to take off."

"_Hmm,_ seems you've been on the naughty list over the last few days, George," David said as he reached into an inner pocket of his overcoat, pulled out a pair of sunglasses and put them on. "I think we should go for a walk. Don't you think so, Ty?"

"Gladly," Ty agreed with a grin as he and David began escorting George, who now knew the jig was up for him, toward an elevator down to the main foyer. Once they exited the elevator, David and Ty, who were now flanking George on either side and who each had a hand on his shoulders to prevent a sudden escape attempt by the kid, spotted Reef and his mother, Broseph, Fin, Mrs. McCloud, Emma and Johnny sitting at tables near the main foyer's donut shop kiosk, talking with each other while enjoying donuts and hot chocolates. "Hey Reef, Broseph," Ty called to the guys. "You guys want to come outside with us? We've got a little surprise planned for George here."

Turning to answer Ty, Reef said, "Show us the way, dude. If you're planning what I think you have in mind, I wanna be there to see it."

"Oh, you won't just be seeing it, you'll be taking part in it," David said. "The more that join us, the merrier."

"I'm in too, bro," Broseph joined in as he and Reef got up from their chairs.

"You mind if Emma and I come along too?" Fin asked. "I wanna see what you've got in store for him too."

"Sure, come with us," Ty said. Fin and Emma, then joined by Johnny, all stood up and accompanied Reef, Broseph, Ty and David as they escorted George down the hallway past the hospital's Renal Unit, then down two more hallways toward the former main entrance located between the hospital's West and Royal Blocks, then outside.

When Mrs. McCloud took her hot chocolate and switched spots to the table where Mrs. Garcia, Reef's mother, was sitting and watching Reef and the gang go down the hallway with George, Mrs. Garcia asked, "Amanda, what do you think Reef and the others have planned for Lo's younger brother?"

"If I'm right," Mrs. McCloud answered with a sly grin after taking a sip of her drink, "I think they're planning to teach the little brat a lesson for the way he's been treating Lo, especially after the things he said to her when we came here on Monday."

* * *

"LET ME GO! You can't do this to me!" a squirming George snapped while Reef, Broseph, Johnny and Ty each held one of the bratty boy's limbs as they stood in front of a decorative fountain on the hospital grounds facing Fort Street, while David stood in front of George and Fin and Emma flanked David on each side.

"I don't think you're in much of a position to decide what we can or can't do here," David, still wearing his sunglasses, addressed George in a laid-back manner while crossing his arms. "But I think you know why we're here right now, don't you?"

"I said let me go!" George repeated himself as he continued to struggle in the guys' grips.

"We brought you out here to try to convince you to leave Lo alone," David said. "To stop teasing her, harassing her, being mean to her, lying about her to others, pranking her and getting her into trouble - all that stuff."

"And if I don't want to stop?" George asked.

"Not a good option," David remarked. "If you refuse to stop making trouble for Lo, then Reef, Broseph, Johnny and Ty are going to send you for a swim in the fountain pool here. Trust me, kid," he continued with a smirk, "with the snow out here and the two-degree temperature outside, it's gonna be a pretty cold swim."

"You wouldn't dare!" George said to everyone.

"Try us," Fin said, placing her hands on her hips. "You may be Lo's brother, George, but the rest of us here have been more like family to her than you have."

"So, what's it going to be?" David then said. "Are you going to promise to leave Lo be, or..."

"Bite me!" George said defiantly.

"Oh well," David said with a shrug. "You can't say we didn't try. Okay guys, when I count to three," he added, talking to Reef and the other guys holding on to George's arms and legs, "he's going for a swim."

"Wait, no!" George said, not feeling stoked about the idea of taking a swim in the fountain pool in winter weather. "You can't do this!"

"And a-one..." David began his count as the guys began swinging George back and forth beside the fountain.

"What happens if I catch pneumonia if I end up in the water?" George said, becoming concerned.

"Good thing we're near a hospital then," a grinning Fin replied with thinly-disguised sarcasm.

"And a-two..." David said, with the guys swinging George again.

"I got my video game in my coat pocket," a now-desperate George said. "It'll get wrecked if it gets soaked!"

"You should've thought about that before we came here," Emma said matter-of-factly.

"Last chance before I hit three, kid," David told George.

"You're not gonna do it," George said, attempting to call David's bluff. "You don't have the guts!"

Leaning forward a little to look George in the eyes as he raised his sunglasses, David simply told him, "Watch me." As the guys swung George back, waiting for the word to go, David began, "And a-..."

"STOP!" George then yelled, stopping Reef, Broseph, Johnny and Ty in mid-swing before they could toss him into the fountain. "I give up, I give up! I won't bug Lo anymore!"

"You'll have to do more than that," David said. "You have to promise that you won't ever give Lo a hard time again."

"Okay, I promise!" George said. "I promise that I won't hassle Lo in any way anymore!"

"Do you swear on it?" David asked.

"Yes, I SWEAR!" George blurted out. "I swear on Dad's life that I'll never be mean to Lo again!"

"So you swear on your dad's life that you'll never make trouble for Lo again, huh?" David said after hearing George say it. "You know what, everyone? If he'd swear on his dad's life, I believe him. Fin, how about you?"

"If he swears on his dad's life not to bug Lo anymore, that's good enough for me," Fin agreed. "Emma?"

"Same here," Emma also chimed in, looking directly at George as she spoke. "Taking an oath on a parent's life when promising to do or not do something means a lot. It means that they're serious about that promise." Reef, Broseph, Johnny and Ty also agreed about George being serious about his promise.

"Okay then," David said as the guys let go of George and he got back on his feet. "So now you have seven witnesses here who've heard you swear on your dad's life that you'll never be mean to Lo again, and we're all going to hold you to that promise, George. So if you go back on your word to us and do or say anything bad to your sister again after you swore on your dad's life not to, we'll never believe anything you say or take your word for anything again. I hope you're also a believer in karma, because breaking a vow that serious will come back to bite you in a big way."

"Now that that's settled, I think we're done here - I hope," Ty said, directing a look at George before the group started back toward the hospital. "When we get back inside, I'm gonna ask Mom if she's up for lunch at that White Spot across the street. If Lo's awake by now and she's hungry, she'll want to join us too."

"You guys go on ahead," Fin said, grabbing Reef's arm lightly as she stayed back when the gang neared the hospital's West Block parking lot. "I want to talk with Reef a bit first."

"Okay, sure," Emma said, glancing back at Fin with a smile as she knew that Fin wanted some "alone time" with Reef. Even though she knew Fin would never admit it publicly, Emma knew that the blonde tomboy had a thing for Reef and she openly supported the idea of a relationship between those two many times during their summer at Surfer's Paradise.

Fin then turned to Reef. "You know, for a kook, you can be a real standup guy sometimes," she said. "I never thought I'd say this, but I actually admire you helping to 'persuade' George to stop bugging Lo. Sure, the method's a bit unorthodox, but you did what you thought was right to help out a friend."

"It wasn't that hard," Reef said. "That little punk was a real pain in the butt last summer at the hotel, so doing it to help Lo out was something I was glad to do. Too bad I didn't actually get to throw George into the fountain, though - now _that_ woulda been fun to watch," he added with a laugh.

"Okay, as much as I would've enjoyed seeing George get a well-deserved dunking too," Fin said with a giggle, "we made our point without having to do it, so let's not push it, 'kay?"

"Fair enough," Reef said, raising his hands in acknowledgment. "Speaking of helping Lo out, Emma told me 'bout what you did for Lo on Monday night at the Empress. Classy move there, babe."

"Reef, you better not be using this as material for another one of your digs at me," Fin warned Reef, pointing her index finger at him. "If it is, I swear I'll..."

"Trust me, it's not," Reef reassured Fin. "I know you're tryin' to help Lo through a rough time for her personally, I totally understand. If it were any of the rest of us, we'd probably have done the same thing, but I know it has personal meaning for you. I know it couldn't have been easy for you either because of what happened to your dad last August."

"Reef..." Fin tried to interrupt.

"Wait, let me finish," Reef cut her off. "Look, I know I like to rib you a lot and I joke about a lot of things, but the death of a loved one is _not_ one of those things. If you do know me well enough Fin, you'll know that there are certain lines even I won't cross. I even sympathized with you when Bummer wouldn't let you go back home for your dad's funeral because he thought you wanted to skip work to get extra surfing time in."

"Oh, I remember that," Fin recalled. "I ripped Bummer a few new ones for not letting me get back home for that until it was too late. I even had to show him my dad's obituary that Grandma mailed me to make him understand that I wasn't faking it. I knew I was risking getting a strike from Bummer for it, but I had to stand up for principle."

"Well, at least you didn't get a strike for it," Reef said. "What could Bummer say after you showed him your proof? And anyway, we all stood up for you against him when he refused to let you go back for the funeral, even when..."

"...even when Bummer was being hard-headed and dictatorial about it, yeah," Fin finished for Reef. Walking up a little closer to him, she added, "But I did appreciate the support I got from you and the others afterward, and I still do now. I assumed you were going to be a tool about it when you first found out, but you really surprised me." After a brief pause as her expression softened, Fin then said as she looked Reef eye-to-eye, "For that, I want to thank you again for being there for me when it really mattered."

"Glad I could help," Reef said with a grin. As it began to snow around them, he and Fin continued looking at each other for a moment before Fin made the first move and hugged him. Reef responded in kind by hugging the pretty blonde surfer girl back, and they stood and held each other for a few moments amid the falling snow, with each enjoying the moment.

As they continued hugging, Fin asked Reef, "So, do you wanna head back inside with the others to go get Lo so we can go across the street for lunch?"

Not really wanting the hug to end, Reef reluctantly agreed with Fin's suggestion. "Yeah, I guess we can," he replied as he let Fin go and started back across the parking lot toward the hospital. As he passed the first row of cars at the edge of the lot and was on his way to the second, however, Reef suddenly felt the wet impact of a snowball on the back of his head, catching him off-guard. Turning around, Reef saw Fin giggling as she tossed another snowball up-and-down in her right hand. "Oh, so that's how you want to play it, huh?" he said with a raised eyebrow.

"Then bring it on, pretty-boy," a grinning Fin dared him as she continued tossing the snowball up-and-down. "Let's see if you got game."

"It's so on, then!" Reef replied as he ran back to the fountain area near Fort Street, and he and Fin began tossing snowballs at each other, both laughing the whole time.

While Reef and Fin continued their snowball fight for fun, Emma came back outside to look for them, wondering why they had not yet returned inside the hospital, when she saw them having fun and laughing near the fountain as they kept throwing snowballs at each other. _I knew somehow those two would fall into each other's orbits again,_ Emma thought to herself with a smile as she continued watching Reef and Fin from a distance.

* * *

Back in the ICU waiting room, Lo was still sleeping on the couch when Kelly poked her head through the doorway and saw the rich girl there, then walked inside. Kelly had just returned from the downtown area, where she had done some of her Christmas shopping earlier. She had already completed most of her holiday shopping for her family, a few friends and David back at home in Nanaimo prior to being invited by Lo to spend Christmas vacation at Surfer's Paradise, but for her trip downtown, she decided to shop for her fellow Surfer's Paradise staff house residents to round out her shopping list.

Kelly then pulled out a small green gift box with a tiny gold-colored bow, the reason she was looking for Lo, from the small Huntington's shopping bag she was carrying. Kelly then removed the lid on the box, which had a tag with Lo's name marked on it, to briefly examine the contents inside, a $100 Huntington's gift card, before she put the lid back on the box, then walked over to the couch. Making sure not to wake up Lo, Kelly then slipped the gift card box inside Lo's coat pocket, then she turned to leave when she was surprised to see David standing in the doorway.

"Oh good grief, you startled me there for a second, David," Kelly said with a nervous giggle.

"Sorry about that," David replied as Kelly walked over to him and gave him a small kiss. "I saw you going down the hallway to come here when I came around the corner from the washroom, so I came to see you when I saw you slip something in Lo's coat pocket."

"Oh, that," Kelly said as she took David outside the waiting room. "That was a Huntington's gift card I bought for Lo. I just wanted to surprise her without her knowing who left it for her."

"Ah, so you were being a 'secret Santa' for Lo," David said with a grin.

"There's nothing wrong with that, is there?" Kelly said, blushing a bit.

"Nothing wrong at all," David said, putting his hand reassuringly on Kelly's upper left arm and drawing a smile from her. "I've been a secret Santa for some of my family and other friends I know around here before, so there's no shame in that. If anything, I admire that you're doing something good for Lo at a time when she needs it."

Just then, Mrs. Ridgemount walked up to the waiting room. "Hi David, hi Kelly," she greeted the couple. "Is Lo still asleep on the couch?"

"She still was when I came to check on her," Kelly said.

"Ah, okay," Mrs. Ridgemount said. "I came to wake her up because we'll be heading across the street to the White Spot for lunch in a few minutes." Walking past Kelly and David and into the waiting room, she then walked up to the couch and touched Lo on her shoulder to wake her up gently. "Lo?" Mrs. Ridgemount said, then stroking her daughter's hair. "Lo?"

"Hmmm?" Lo said, beginning to wake from her sleep.

"Time to wake up, sweetie," Mrs. Ridgemount said. "We're getting ready to go to lunch if you want to come with us. We're going to the White Spot on Fort Street across from here."

Lo's eyes fully opened as she heard her mother speak. "Okay, sure," Lo replied sleepily, moving her coat off of her as she sat up. "I'll be with you in a minute or two, I just need time to wake up some more." After Mrs. Ridgemount left the waiting room, Lo yawned a bit before putting her hand on her coat, at which point she felt something inside her right pocket. Reaching inside, she then took out the object she felt and found a small green box with a tiny gold bow on it, the gift box Kelly secretly left for her while she slept. Lo then removed the lid from the box and found the $100 Huntington's gift card inside. "Wow, I don't remember getting this, but it sure is a nice surprise," she remarked with a smile as she checked out the gift card.

* * *

**Next up - can miracles really happen during Christmastime? Stick around and find out.**


	8. Miracles Can Happen

**CHAPTER 8 - MIRACLES CAN HAPPEN**

**Well, after a bit of a delay, I'm _finally_ able to post the eighth chapter. The reason I wasn't able to post Chapter Eight sooner than I wanted to was because last week, my computer underwent a bit of a glitch that forced me to reinstall my Windows program. It was also that same glitch that caused me to lose Chapter Eight as it was originally written up to the point of the glitch, so I had to rewrite the chapter from what I remembered of it (which, thankfully, was about 95% of what I had lost, which takes up the first section of this chapter). Anyone who's ever had computer problems will, of course, understand how frustrating it is to lose the work you've done thanks to some computer gremlin.**

**So, can miracles happen during the Christmas holidays? As the title of this chapter goes...**

**

* * *

**

On Monday, two days after Mrs. Ridgemount had been advised by her husband's doctors that they would be easing him off the drug they had used to keep him in an induced coma while treating him for his heart attack, Mr. Ridgemount was no longer on the drug, but he had not yet regained consciousness. Lo was relieved to hear that news earlier, but it did little to ease her fears about her father's condition at that point, particularly as she stepped into Mr. Ridgemount's hospital room to see him when no one else was there.

Taking a seat in a chair at the side of Mr. Ridgemount's bed, Lo watched her father, who was still being monitored by the machines he was hooked up to and still had on his oxygen mask. As the ventilator the oxygen mask led from worked quietly in the background, Lo let out a sigh and said, "I wish I knew what to say right now."

As Lo spoke to the still-unconscious Mr. Ridgemount, Reef, Fin and Mrs. McCloud entered the room, though Lo was unaware of anyone else entering. When Mrs. McCloud noticed Fin's look of concern toward Lo, she took her granddaughter's hand into her own, while Reef, who also took notice, put his left arm over Fin's shoulders. In turn, Fin glanced toward Mrs. McCloud, then to Reef, and gave them each looks of appreciation.

"I know I haven't always done the right thing, especially before that party I threw at the end of the old school year," Lo continued. "And I know I didn't always appreciate or understand the lesson you were trying to teach me at first when you sent me off to the staff house and put me to work on staff. I just wish you would've believed me when I said it wasn't my fault that the Christmas tree in the lobby back at home got damaged, or that all the fish in the Lobbyquarium were killed when the Christmas lights hanging from the ceiling fell into the water after they got snagged by the tree when it fell. I also wish you would've listened to Ty when he tried to tell you that George was the one responsible for all that damage because he pulled a prank on me."

While Lo continued to speak, Kelly and David were the next to enter the room, going over to stand with Reef, Fin and Mrs. McCloud near the foot of Mr. Ridgemount's bed. Kelly felt compassion for Lo's situation with her father and his health and, like everyone else in the gang, hoped for the best for the Ridgemount Resorts owner. Sensing what Kelly was feeling, David took his girlfriend's hand and held it.

"I realize I'm not perfect either," Lo went on, beginning to show emotion in her voice as she continued her one-way conversation with her father. "I've made mistakes before and I'll probably make them again, but whenever I did something for you or for the hotel, I always wanted to do right by you and be the best daughter I could be for you. In a big way, I have you to thank in part for setting me on the right path, because if you hadn't, I wouldn't have met the friends I made while I was at the staff house and they wouldn't have helped me to become a better person for my experiences." As Lo was still speaking, Broseph, Emma and Mrs. Ridgemount came in next, and Broseph and Emma went to stand with Reef, Fin and the rest of the group, while Mrs. Ridgemount took a seat next to Lo, who was still unaware that anyone else was in the room with her.

"Right now, I really don't care about the presents you and Mom were going to give me," Lo then said, her voice beginning to break. "All I really want for Christmas right now...is for you to get better. I don't know what I'd do if anything happened to you, Daddy. I just want you to get better and to come back to us...especially to me..._please_..." At that point, Lo lowered her face into her arms on the side rail of her father's bed and began crying softly.

Mrs. Ridgemount said nothing, but simply began rubbing Lo's back to console her. When she noticed her back being rubbed after a few moments, Lo turned around and saw her mother. "Oh, Mom," Lo sobbed as Mrs. Ridgemount took her daughter into her arms to hold and cuddle her. As the group watched a crying Lo being comforted by her mother, Fin, who had the emotional support of her grandmother and Reef as they stood by her, did her best to keep it together. Emma, who felt empathy for her friend's plight, shed a tear herself as she watched Lo, while Broseph put his arm over her shoulders to let her know he was there for her. Kelly turned toward David, leaned her head on his shoulder, wrapped her arms around him and began crying quietly herself while David hugged her.

As Lo continued sobbing on Mrs. Ridgemount's shoulder, she began to hear low moaning coming from behind her and she turned around to see what it was. "Unnhh...uhh...Princess?" Mr. Ridgemount, who was beginning to come to, groaned as he slowly opened his eyes. "Princess...is that...you?"

"Daddy?" a surprised Lo exclaimed as she watched her father slowly regain consciousness. "Ohmigosh, Daddy?" Just then, Lo's words caught the attention of the rest of the gang and, as they also saw Mr. Ridgemount coming to, a buzz rose among them as they began talking with each other.

"_Ohhh_, where...am I?" a still-groggy Mr. Ridgemount said while trying to get a sense of where he was. "What...happened?"

"You suffered a heart attack earlier," Lo explained to her father. "You were taken to the hospital back at home, but then you suffered cardiac arrest while you were there, so you had to be flown to Victoria for further treatment. That's where we are right now."

"_Nnnhh_, I don't...remember...anything...about it," Mr. Ridgemount then moaned. "How long...was I...out of it?"

"You were unconscious for a week, dear," Mrs. Ridgemount joined in. "Your doctors here had to induce a coma in you while they treated your condition, to make sure nothing else happened to you. During that time, Lo's been right by your side through much of this."

"I was really worried about you the whole time you were here," Lo said, "and I was hoping for the best all that time, that you'd get better." A greatly relieved and happy Lo then got up from her chair and, remembering her father's condition, leaned over to gently hug him while leaning her head on his chest. "Oh Daddy, I'm so glad you're going to be all right," she said softly to Mr. Ridgemount, while Lo's friends, who were still watching from the sidelines, also looked relieved and pleased to see things take a turn for the better.

"We were all hoping for the best for you, Mr. Ridgemount," Emma spoke up from among the group.

"We're just glad to see you come around," Fin then added.

"Thanks...everyone," Mr. Ridgemount said in acknowledgment. "All...I need now...is a little...rest...and I'll be...good as new."

"I'll go get a nurse to check up on you," Mrs. Ridgemount said as she got up from her chair and left to go down the hall to the nurses' station. Everyone else in the gang then also stepped out of the room except for Emma, who went to take Mrs. Ridgemount's seat beside Lo.

"Are you going to be okay, sweetie?" Emma asked as she put her hand on Lo's shoulder.

"I will be, now that I know Daddy's going to be okay," Lo answered with a smile. "Thanks, Emma," she added as she and Emma then hugged.

* * *

Two days later, Mr. Ridgemount's condition had improved to where he no longer needed the ventilator and he was able to speak more clearly and coherently, but there were times when he still needed rest. To his chagrin, he found out that as a precaution, he was to remain in the hospital over Christmas for further observation, but with continued improvement, he would be released and be allowed to return home to Sunset Beach the following week in time for New Year's Eve, which was when a dance he had planned for the Grand Ballroom at Surfer's Paradise was to take place to ring in the new year. On the plus side, this meant that Lo's family and friends would also get to remain in Victoria for Christmas, to celebrate the 25th with the Ridgemount patriarch at Royal Jubilee Hospital and with each other back at the Empress.

"Boy, am I glad I don't have to eat the hospital food here," Mr. Ridgemount remarked as he enjoyed the rest of his lunch of a small steak, baked potato and steamed vegetables, which he had personally requested from the Empress for delivery to his room, while Lo, Ty, Mrs. Ridgemount, Johnny and David were visiting with him. "That's one of the perks of being the owner of a hotel chain."

"It's also one of the perks of being a hotel chain owner's wife," Mrs. Ridgemount said. "I never had to worry about having hospital food either all three times I went in to have each of our children."

"Same with being a hotel owner's kid," Ty joined in, "but then, all I could really eat right away after I got my tonsils out was ice cream. Couldn't complain about that though," he quipped, making Lo, Johnny and David laugh.

"Hey, speaking of kids," David then said, "Johnny, wasn't there something you were planning on showing Mr. Ridgemount when you had the chance? It was something to do with George that I think he might be interested in seeing."

"Now that you mention it, I think I've got it right here on my laptop," Johnny said, pulling his laptop computer into view. "I never go anywhere without it unless I go surfing." As Johnny took his laptop over to Mr. Ridgemount, George arrived and stood in the room doorway, listening in on the conversation.

"What's this about George that you need me to see?" Mr. Ridgemount wondered, as his short-term memory about events that happened prior to his heart attack was still a bit spotty.

"We're not sure if you remember all the details, but just before your heart attack, George pulled a prank on Lo that caused damage to some of the Christmas displays in the hotel lobby back home and killed all the fish in the Lobbyquarium," Ty recalled. "Then he framed Lo for what happened by claiming to you and Andrew that she did it, even though he was setting her up to take the fall for what he did."

"You're kidding," Mr. Ridgemount said.

"Then Ty tried to help me when he figured out George was the one who did it when George started acting guilty and Ty found some clues," Lo added, "but you took George's word over mine and you were about to punish me based only on his word. I really felt upset when you weren't willing to listen to my side of the story or to hear Ty out." Meanwhile, as he continued listening to the others talk, George began to feel some concern over what he figured was about to happen.

"Oh, no," Mr. Ridgemount then said, expressing regret over what he may have said or done to Lo before the heart attack. Turning to Lo, he told her, "I don't remember everything that happened before I had my heart attack, but Princess, I'm truly sorry for not listening to your side of things, or for anything I said or did to you without getting the whole story."

"It's okay Daddy, I forgive you," Lo said as she then hugged her father.

"It's also why I brought my laptop here with me, to show the whole story," Johnny said while turning his laptop on. "It's something I knew would help Lo out and prove her innocence. It's security footage I picked up of everything that happened that day in the lobby when she was with Fin and Emma..."

"NO!" George yelled out as he then ran from the doorway to try to stop Johnny, but Ty and David intercepted him and pulled him back by his shoulders right away. "Don't even," Ty warned George as he and David restrained the bratty youngest Ridgemount offspring, whose eyes went wide and his pupils constricted as he realized his fate was about to be sealed.

On his laptop, Johnny then hit play to run the security footage Mr. Ridgemount was now watching, showing George sneaking up behind Lo and tying one end of the packaging string around her ankle while she talked with Fin and Emma, then sneaking back to the left side of the scene, standing up and grabbing his snowball to throw at Lo, followed by George then laughing at an angry Lo, who then chased her younger brother through the lobby until the string snagged and stopped her. Mr. Ridgemount continued to watch as the Christmas tree the other end of the string was tied to fell down toward Lo, who just managed to jump out of its way in time as it snagged the Christmas lights from the lobby ceiling and sent them into the Lobbyquarium as the tree crashed down and the ornaments hanging from it shattered on impact with the floor, followed by the power to the lobby going out when the lights landed in the water and electrocuted every fish swimming in the Lobbyquarium.

"I've seen enough," Mr. Ridgemount then said as Johnny hit pause on the footage. "George, come here a minute," he then calmly ordered his youngest son to do. Not daring to disobey his father at that point, George did as he was told while Lo, Mrs. Ridgemount and Johnny stepped aside.

"Now George, you do know I love you, right?" Mr. Ridgemount said.

"Yeah Dad, I know," George replied sheepishly, knowing the amount of trouble he was in.

"Good," Mr. Ridgemount then said, "because you know what I have to do. First of all, once we return home to Sunset Beach, you'll be grounded for a month for the damage you caused in the lobby with your prank on your sister and for framing her for it. That means your TV, Internet and video game privileges are suspended for the duration of your punishment, you're not allowed to have friends over and you're confined to the penthouse except for school. It also means you're to go straight to school in the morning and return right home after school, and you're not allowed to take part in any extracurricular school activities during your punishment. Second, for what you did in the lobby, the cost of replacing those fish that were killed in the Lobbyquarium is coming out of your allowance, and so is the cost of that Christmas tree and all its decorations."

"Yes, sir," George said.

"And third, and most important of all, George," Mr. Ridgemount continued, "if you ever do or say anything - and I mean _anything_ - to cause trouble for your sister again, you'll be sent off to military school until you turn 18. Do you understand everything I've told you?"

"Yes, sir," George said again with a sigh of resignation before he turned and left the room.

A happy Lo then turned to Johnny and smiled at him. "Johnny, you _totally_ rock!" she said as she hugged him in appreciation. "Thanks for helping save my butt a moment ago."

"Not a problem, Lo," Johnny said. "But I wasn't the only one who did. Actually," he continued, looking over to Ty and David, "most of us had a hand in helping you with George."

"You did?" Lo and Mr. Ridgemount said together. "What did you do to deal with George?" Mr. Ridgemount then asked.

"Let's just say we used a little persuasion to get George to back off of Lo," David said with a knowing grin. "Add that to the punishment you just gave him after Johnny showed you the security video and it packed the perfect one-two punch."

"It's just as well after what I saw in the video," Mr. Ridgemount said. "Lauren could have been hurt if the tree had hit her when it came down. And what if those strings of Christmas lights that fell into the Lobbyquarium had landed on Lauren at the same time? I don't even want to think about it. George should consider himself very lucky that I'm not shipping him off to military school right now."

"I'm just glad that nothing worse came of it all," Mrs. Ridgemount then said to her husband. "You're recovering from your heart attack, Lo was proven innocent of the damage caused by George's prank and George was appropriately punished for what he did wrong. I think everything's worked out pretty well."

"I'm glad for that too," Lo joined in. Right then, Fin popped her head into the doorway and called quietly to Lo to get her attention, asking her to come outside. "Can you guys excuse me a minute?" Lo said to everyone else in Mr. Ridgemount's room before she got up to walk out the door with Fin.

* * *

A moment later, Lo and Fin arrived in the ICU waiting room, where they took a seat on the couch near the TV. "So, what's the score with George?" Fin asked. "I passed by him coming from the elevators and he looked kinda mopey, so that's gotta be good news for you."

"Well," Lo said with a smile, "I'm happy to say that not only am I officially no longer in trouble, George finally got what was coming to him. Johnny unleashed his secret weapon and showed Daddy the security video footage from the day of his heart attack. George got busted for pranking me and framing me for the damage it caused and now he's grounded for a month and has to pay for the damage in the lobby out of his allowance!"

"Ha-ha, nice!" Fin said as she slapped five with Lo, who began giggling happily at knowing that George got his well-deserved comeuppance. "Couldn't have happened to a more deserving kid."

"_Ohhh_, yeah!" a grinning Lo agreed. "Oh, I also heard from Johnny that you and everybody else helped to straighten George out last Saturday before Daddy woke up. What happened?"

"It was most of us, really," Fin explained. "Me, Emma, Reef, Broseph, Johnny, Ty and David took George outside to the fountain in front of the hospital and threatened to throw him in for a swim if he didn't promise to leave you alone. Kelly was out Christmas shopping downtown and Grandma and Reef's mom were at the donut kiosk when it happened, but they were all happy to hear what happened afterward."

"So, what happened?" a curious Lo asked.

"George didn't get soaked, but he did swear on your dad's life not to bug you anymore," Fin said.

"Gee, that's too bad about George not taking a swim in the fountain," Lo said, starting to giggle again. "That would've been fun to see."

"That's what Reef said too!" Fin said as both she and Lo were now laughing. "He really wanted to throw George in for the fun of it, but he was as willing to do it for your sake as the rest of us were."

"I'll have to thank everyone for that later on," Lo said, picking up a shopping bag she had carried with her to the waiting room. "Right now though, I'll start with you."

"What do you mean?" Fin wondered.

"I know I'm supposed to wait until Saturday to give you guys the gifts I got for you," Lo said as she fished into the bag, "but after what you all did for me, I'm going to start early, starting with you." Lo then gave Fin a small red gift box with her name on a tag. When Fin opened the box to look inside, she was surprised by what she found.

"Whoa, you got me $250 in iTunes cards?" Fin said as she took the cards out of the box to look at them. "Awesome! Thanks Lo, these'll be handy to build up my iPod playlist when I get back home."

"You're welcome, Fin," Lo said, pleased at Fin's appreciation of her gift.

"That reminds me," Fin then said, remembering something she had in her jeans pocket. "I was going to give this to you on Saturday, but since we're in a gift-giving mood right now, I guess I'll do the same and give you my gift now." She then took out a small white box with a gold ribbon wrapped around it and gave it to Lo, who unwrapped the ribbon and opened the box.

Lo's mouth opened with surprise when she saw the contents of the box - a three-piece, heart-shaped silver breakapart charm with the words "Best Friends" carved on the front and three chains, one for each piece of the charm. "_Awwwww_," Lo exclaimed when she saw the charm. "Fin, this is gorgeous!"

"So, you like it?" Fin asked.

"I _love_ it!" said Lo, who never assumed Fin to be the kind to buy such a gift. "Heidi never even got me something like this when she and I were friends, but getting this from you..." When she took another look at Fin's gift, Lo melted. "Thank you so much, Fin," she said as she then kissed Fin on her cheek. "You're a sweetheart for doing this."

"You're welcome, Lo," Fin replied as the two girls then hugged. "I got the charm as a three-piece to share between you, me and Emma."

"Oh, Emma's gonna love this when she sees it," Lo said. "I know I already do." After taking another look at the charm, Lo then remembered something else that crossed her mind. "Fin, did you hear about the New Year's Eve dance coming up back at Surfer's Paradise?"

"Heard about it?" Fin said with a giggle. "It was kinda hard to avoid seeing the reminders from the flyers plastered around the lobby. So, did you ask someone to go to the dance with you?"

"Sure did," Lo said. "I'm going there with Broseph to ring in the new year. Should I even ask who you're..."

"Yes, Lo, I'm going to the dance with Reef," Fin said with a smile.

"_Eeeee!_" Lo, who had always been a booster of the Reef-Fin relationship, squealed happily when she heard the news. "I _knew_ you'd be asking Reef to go! That's gonna be so awesome to see you two there together!"

"Yeah, I know," Fin said with a smirk. "But there is something I wanted to ask you..."

"Sure, what's that?" Lo said.

"Would you...save me a dance or two when we're there?" Fin asked, blushing slightly.

Lo smiled when she heard Fin ask her question. "Sure," she agreed as she put her hand on Fin's shoulder. "I'll even save you several dances. It's the least I can do for someone who helped to make my bratty younger brother stop making trouble for me - for someone who's also one of my best friends."

"I was happy to do it," Fin said, also smiling. "And you're one of mine too," she added as she and Lo hugged again.

* * *

**Things wrap up next chapter as the action returns to Sunset Beach and Surfer's Paradise for the New Year's Eve dance, where the one-time groms reveal some news and Lo is honored by her friends.**


	9. The New Year Dawns

**CHAPTER 9 - THE NEW YEAR DAWNS  
**

**So, after just over two months of writing, this Christmas tale, my most ambitious project yet, finally wraps up with the Surfer's Paradise gang and their loved ones taking part in New Year's Eve celebrations, where a few more surprises will be coming Lo's way over the course of the evening. **

**In this chapter, I've included a few nods to Season One episodes "Board and Confused", "Waves of Cheese" (with the style of dresses the girls choose to wear for the New Year's Eve dance), "The Very Very Very Very Very Important Guest", "Charging Into the Night", "O Broseph Where Art Thou?", the alternate events of "Boards of Glory" (from my fanfic "Grandma's Got Stoke!"), "A Boy Named Leslie" and "The Day the Sea Stood Still".**

**Emperor of the Animal Kingdom - about who takes over from Bummer as the new manager at Surfer's Paradise, that gets answered later in this chapter.**

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**

In due time, Christmas came for the Surfer's Paradise gang and their loved ones as they were able to celebrate with the still-hospitalized Mr. Ridgemount, whose health continued to improve day-by-day. The day started at the Empress Hotel with Reef and his mother, Fin and Mrs. McCloud, Broseph, Emma, Johnny, Kelly and David meeting Lo and her family at the Ridgemount Executive Suite to enjoy breakfast from Room Service and exchange gifts, followed by the group heading to Royal Jubilee Hospital to bring the Ridgemount family's gifts to Mr. Ridgemount and spend the day with him.

Two days later, Mr. Ridgemount received a clean bill of health from his doctors and was discharged from the hospital, though he was also advised to avoid stress and ease his way back into his job and physical activity. With his release from hospital that Monday, the Ridgemount family and Lo's friends spent one more day in Victoria before they returned to Sunset Beach and Surfer's Paradise the next day, the day that George's month-long grounding took effect.

The next three days also proved to be busy ones for Lo and everyone else. On Wednesday, Lo, as promised, took Fin and Emma, as well as inviting Kelly, Mrs. McCloud and Reef's mother, for a girls' day at the hotel spa while Reef, Broseph, Johnny, Ty and David hung out in town for the day. On Thursday, David came through with his plans to take almost the entire group on a day trip to go skiing at nearby Mount Washington; the only ones absent from the trip were Mr. Ridgemount (who still had to take it easy with physical activity for the time being), Mrs. Ridgemount (who chose to stay behind to look after her husband, though she had wanted to join the gang on the ski trip) and George (due to being grounded). Everyone had a good time on the ski day, which was marred only by David getting his left forearm put in a cast back in Sunset Beach after he suffered a hairline fracture there following a skiing accident during the trip.

* * *

Friday was New Year's Eve and the night of the big dance at the Surfer's Paradise Grand Ballroom, and many of the hotel's guests were in attendance to dance the night away and ring in the new year. With the guests at the dance ranging in age from their mid-teens, like Reef, Fin and the gang, to the eighty-something Chester Grizzle, the dance music playing there also varied in a collection of popular tunes from the 1950s to the 2000s, thanks to a music-savvy David helping Lo and Mr. Ridgemount pick a DJ service that would have the variety of songs needed for the event.

Fin, Mrs. McCloud and Emma were among the first guests to arrive at the ballroom for the dance, with Fin dressed up in a short-skirted sleeveless yellow dress with knee-length black tights under the skirt, Emma in a sleeveless pink floral-patterned dress and Mrs. McCloud in a maroon cowl-neck belted sweater and white slacks. After a few minutes, Fin noticed that the guys had not yet arrived. "_Hmph_, and the guys accuse _us_ of running late when we get ready to go somewhere?" Fin quipped as she scanned the ballroom.

"Well, it's not _totally_ untrue," Emma replied. "Remember back in June when I ended up late for work and got a strike from Bummer because I was kept waiting to take a shower while Lo took her sweet time taking a bubble bath in the staff house bathroom _and_ used up all my conditioner?"

"Oh yeah, I remember that," Fin said with a giggle. "After you finally got your shower, you showed up at the staff meeting with your hair looking like Broseph's. That's what happens when you leave your conditioner laying around for anyone else to use."

"Ha-ha," an unimpressed Emma said sarcastically.

"It even happens to the best of us sometimes, Emma," Mrs. McCloud said. "The only times you really have to worry about how your hair looks are for dates and job interviews."

"Or when you have to deal with guys like Reef who get their kicks from laughing at others' misfortunes," Fin added, drawing a dry look from Emma.

Looking toward the ballroom's main entrance, Emma then noticed some familiar figures coming in. "Speaking of Reef, here come the guys now," she said as she spotted Reef, Broseph and Johnny arrive, all dressed up in three-piece suits.

"Hey, it's about time you showed up," Fin commented to Reef as he walked up to her.

"Well, you know how I like to make a big entrance," Reef said with a sly grin, to which Fin rolled her eyes.

"Did Lo arrive yet?" Broseph then asked.

"Not yet," Emma reported. "I called her when we were on our way here and she was still getting ready."

"_Hmm,_ she must still be rummaging through her walk-in closet full o' dresses, trying to decide which one to wear," Fin said. "I wouldn't put it past her to do that. Then again, she might just be trying to be fashionably late."

Among the next guests to enter the ballroom were Kelly and David, who walked in hand-in-hand. Kelly had on her dark magenta dress while David was decked out in a dark sport coat and trousers and a red dress shirt. Following after them was Mrs. Garcia, Reef's mother, who accompanied the Kahuna to the dance. Although Mrs. Garcia had dated and then broke up with Kahuna during her visit with Reef at Surfer's Paradise in June, she decided to ask him to the dance when she met up with him again following the gang's return from Victoria, and Kahuna, being Kahuna (that is, not really remembering that they had even dated that summer), gladly accepted.

"Hey, lookin' fly tonight, Mrs. G," Broseph, who noticed the blue dress Mrs. Garcia was wearing, said to her as she and Kahuna walked up to the gang.

"Dude, that's my mom you're talking about!" Reef admonished Broseph.

"What?" Broseph replied. "What's wrong with noticing how a chiquita looks?"

"It's okay, dear," Mrs. Garcia said to Reef. Turning to Broseph, she then said, "Thank you, Broseph. This dress does look pretty stylin', does it?"

"Aw, man!" a chagrined Reef then grumbled.

"Oh, come on, don't be such a Leslie," Fin teased Reef as she elbowed him lightly in his ribs. "You have to admit your mom does look smokin' for the dance tonight."

"Are we gonna start with this 'Leslie' business again?" Reef said to Fin under his breath.

"Only if you give me reason to," a grinning Fin replied with a sly look.

"How's your arm doing, David?" Emma then asked.

"It's not hurting anymore," David said as he held up his left arm and pulled back the sleeve on his coat to reveal the cast he had on his forearm, which had already been signed by Kelly. "But I'm stuck with this cast for the next six weeks, so I'll have to make the most of it. Good thing at least that I'm right-handed."

"So, can we sign your cast too?" Fin said.

"I knew you'd all want to," David said with a chuckle, "so I brought a couple of pens along for that." While the rest of the gang, Mrs. McCloud, Mrs. Garcia and Kahuna got to work signing David's cast, Mr. and Mrs. Ridgemount were the next to arrive at the ballroom, both dressed to the nines.

"Hello, Mr. Ridgemount," Johnny greeted the hotel owner. "We weren't expecting to see you here tonight because of your condition."

"Well, you know I'm not one to let something like a heart attack stop me from at least putting in an appearance," Mr. Ridgemount said. "I can't stay long because of doctor's orders for what they're worth, but I did promise the Mrs. at least one dance here tonight."

"Good for you, sir, we're glad you're doing better," Emma said. "Is Lo on her way yet?"

"Lo was still trying to pick a dress to wear for the dance when we came down here," Mrs. Ridgemount said. "She should be on her way soon though." After that, Emma then noticed Ty walking into the ballroom next. While she was delighted to see Ty arrive, Emma was then disappointed when she noticed he came with a date, a cute girl with moderately-short brown hair.

Johnny then spotted someone he recognized from not far off and walked up to him. "Yo Carter, what's up?" Johnny greeted him.

"Hey, Johnny my man," Carter replied with a fist bump. "Got a feelin' this shindig's gonna be a success tonight."

"Looks that way alright," Johnny said. "Come on, I want you to meet some friends of mine." Johnny and Carter walked over to where the gang and Mr. and Mrs. Ridgemount were standing. "Hey guys, this is Carter Archibald, my cousin and the new day manager here at Surfer's Paradise," Johnny introduced the gang to him. "Carter, this is Reef, Fin, Broseph, Emma, Kelly and David."

As Carter greeted the gang with handshakes, Fin was surprised. "So you're the new day manager here at the hotel?" she asked Carter as he got around to her.

"You got it," Carter affirmed to Fin. "I got transferred here from the hotel in Edmonton back in September after Andrew got busted down to concierge. Since then, morale among the staff's picked up big time."

"Whoa, cool!" Fin remarked. "Are you still using the strike system that Bumm...er, Andrew used when he was manager?"

"Well, officially the strike system's still on the books," Carter admitted, "but I've hardly had to use it at all since I came here 'cause I haven't been nearly the hardass Andrew was. I think you know this already from experience, but the guy was a slavedriver who drove staff morale way down and cared only about making money and kissing guest butt all the time. Let's just say his system ain't my system."

"So out of curiosity, when were those few times you had to give someone a strike, and to who?" Fin asked, while the rest of the gang around her listened in.

"The only one I've had to give a strike was Andrew," Carter pointed out, "and that was on principle after he said my system of making things more fun for the staff while keeping discipline wouldn't work. I asked him how his system worked for him and he couldn't give me an answer when the rest of the staff who used to work under him stared him down, so we haven't had problems with him since." As Carter spoke of Bummer's fate, the rest of the gang began laughing at the thought of Bummer getting what he deserved for the problems he caused for the hotel staff under his rule.

Suddenly getting an idea, Fin said to Carter, "Could you excuse us a minute while I confab a bit with my friends?" Fin then gathered Reef, Broseph, Emma, Johnny and Kelly together and they talked among themselves a few moments before Fin returned to Carter and Mr. and Mrs. Ridgemount. "Mr. Ridgemount, we've done some talking and we've decided that, after hearing you've replaced Andrew with Carter as day manager and hearing that staff morale's gone up under Carter, we'd like to reapply to work at Surfer's Paradise again this coming summer," Fin said.

"Lauren told me that she thought you might want to come back to work here once you heard about Andrew no longer being the day manager," Mr. Ridgemount responded. "You'd all just have to pick up and fill out application forms as a formality, but I can say with confidence that you'll all have jobs here come next June." Upon hearing this, Fin and the rest of the gang began cheering, glad to know that they would be returning to Surfer's Paradise again, this time to work for a fun boss who also happened to be Johnny's cousin, at the end of the school year.

A moment later, Reef, Fin and the others all took notice as Lo finally arrived in the ballroom. After taking some time to decide, Lo finally settled on a lovely sleeveless cyan blue dress to wear to the dance. She also had replaced her regular necklace with the one Emma had made with turquoise beads to give her for Christmas, and she was also wearing the necklace with the middle part of the three-piece "Best Friends" charm given to her by Fin the week before. She capped off her look for the dance by replacing the lavender-colored flower she usually wore in her hair with a white flower. Overall, Lo's New Year's Eve dance attire caught the attention of her friends as she walked over to them.

"Oh, sweetie," Mrs. Ridgemount said when she saw Lo with her dress. "I love that dress, you look so beautiful with it."

"Your mom's right, those are some mad threads, girl," Broseph agreed while the rest of the gang also admired Lo's dress.

"_Aww,_ thanks, guys," a flattered Lo said. "I've been feeling like a million bucks lately, so I though I'd look that way too."

"And where better to look like a million than right here, tonight?" Fin commented. Just then, the music, which had begun a few minutes earlier to start the dance, switched over to a slow song, the Phil Collins tune "One More Night", which seemed like an applicable choice of song to dance to because the gang had just one more night together after the dance before Reef, Fin, Emma and Kelly would have to go their separate ways and return home to go back to school; for that same reason, the song was especially relevant to Reef, who actually paid attention to the song's lyrics, regarding Fin. When the song began, Mr. and Mrs. Ridgemount stepped out onto the dance floor to enjoy a slow dance, and Reef and Fin, Lo and Broseph, Johnny and Emma, Kelly and David, and Mrs. Garcia and Kahuna likewise paired off to enjoy their first dance on the floor along with the other guests.

As she and Broseph moved in time to the pace of the music, Lo looked over to see Fin and Reef slow-dancing close by, and she smiled. "I'm glad to see Fin and Reef are having a good time," she commented to Broseph. "Between me and Emma, we've always said those two were made for each other."

"I'd like to see how long they get through the dance tonight before Reef says or does something to get Fin cheesed off at him," Broseph said. "Johnny said it'll happen before midnight, but I bet him it happens before the first hour's up."

"Bite your tongue, Broseph!" a surprised Lo chided him gently, trying not to giggle. "I told Reef before the dance not to do or say anything stupid while he's with Fin tonight. I even made a few suggestions to him on how to impress her and stay on her good side, like what kind of songs to request from the DJ to dance to."

"You think that advice's gonna take with him?" Broseph wondered.

"I hope so," Lo said. "David helped me out a bit on the song suggestions, including what I told Reef to ask for with the first dance."

"So that was you?" Broseph said. "You asked for this song to dance to?"

"Well," Lo said coyly, "I did, but only as a suggestion to Reef. But Fin doesn't need to know that from me - if she thinks it was Reef's idea, it's all good."

"Nice choice of song too," Broseph said, "since Reef, Fin, Emma and Kelly have just one more night here after the dance before they gotta head back home."

"Yeah, I know," Lo admitted, sounding slightly forlorn. "That's true for Reef and Fin too, having just one more night together before they have to go their separate ways again 'til they come back again for the summer. On top of that, I'm going to miss them when they leave."

"I hear ya, chiquita," Broseph said. "But at least we know they'll be coming back again when the school year ends, so we got that to look forward to."

"Good point," Lo said with a giggle as she and Broseph continued dancing.

* * *

Not long after, when Mr. and Mrs. Ridgemount decided to call it an early night from the dance and returned to their penthouse, Fin and Reef headed to the catering table when they spotted Fin's grandmother talking with Chester Grizzle, who recognized Reef the moment the octogenarian saw him. "Hey, creampuff!" Mr. Grizzle greeted Reef, using his nickname for the cocky surfer. "Long time, no see!"

"Happy New Year, Mr. Grizzle," Reef replied. "Havin' a good time yet?"

"You kiddin' me?" Mr. Grizzle said. "They ain't played anything from my time yet that I could cut a rug to! Kids and their music nowadays, it just ain't like it was back in the day."

_Sure, grampa, whatev,_ Reef though to himself. _My kind of tunes could play circles 'round your Stone-Age music anyday._

"Grandma, I saw you two talking up quite a storm here for a bit," Fin said to Mrs. McCloud. "You know him?"

"Well, I do know _of_ him," Mrs. McCloud said. "But he and your great-grandpa, my dad, actually know each other. They used to play hockey together in the 1950s."

"That's right, missy," Mr. Grizzle declared proudly. "Ol' Angus McCloud and I were teammates with Seattle in the Pacific Northwest League for a few years. Even won a few league championships together in Seattle 'til Angus got traded to Victoria in '59, then I got traded to Victoria in '62 and we were teammates one more season before ol' Angus retired in '63."

"Now I'm trying to see if he can move on the dance floor like he did on the ice back in his playing days," Mrs. McCloud said.

"Hold on, missy," Mr. Grizzle said. "Just 'cause I said I could cut a rug don't mean I still can. Got a few issues with arthritis these days, you know..."

"Hey, I'm going to get you out on the dance floor one way or another, mister," Mrs. McCloud teasingly told the oldtimer with a fiendish grin, right as the song that she had asked for, an up-tempo 1960s bossa nova tune called "Mas Que Nada", began playing. "Come on Mr. Grizzle, now's your chance to cut a rug like you said you could!" she said as went out on the dance floor, giving herself a chance to show off the samba dancing skills she had kept polished since she first learned that dance in the 1960s.

Following her grandmother's lead, Fin pulled Reef onto the dance floor as well and, like Mrs. McCloud, she also began dancing samba. "C'mon Reef, it's not that hard to do," Fin said to Reef in encouragement. "Just do what I'm doing!"

"Nice work, honey," Mrs. McCloud said to Fin as she watched her granddaughter swaying her hips to the music. "You're quite a quick study with the moves."

"I learned from the best I know," Fin replied, then began to laugh as she watched Reef try in vain to follow her moves.

Around the same time as Fin and Mrs. McCloud hit the floor with their respective dance partners, Lo and Broseph, along with Kelly and David, also joined them and kicked up their heels to the lively music. "Right on Fin, shake your groove thing!" Lo called encouragingly to her friend while also showing some samba-dancing skill of her own. "Show 'em how it's done!"

After hearing Lo, Fin turned around in time to see Reef end up down on the floor after tripping over his own feet. "Looks like some need more showing than others," Fin quipped with a giggle while the others enjoyed a laugh at Reef's expense over his evident lack of dance skills.

* * *

Later on at the catering table, Broseph was loading up a paper plate with snacks to munch on when Lo came up to him. "Wow, do you have a hollow leg or something?" Lo quipped.

"Huh?" Broseph wondered.

"Your plate full of food," Lo explained. "You've got to have a hollow leg to put all that stuff back."

"Ah, right," Broseph said with a chuckle. "Gotta get the energy I need to keep on the dance floor all night." After a glance around the ballroom, he then asked Lo. "So what happened with your folks? Haven't seen 'em around since the first dance earlier."

"Oh, Mom and Dad just had to leave early," Lo said. "Daddy's doing better now, but he's still under doctor's orders to take it easy for a while. I'm glad at least that he got one dance in with Mom while they were here."

"Cool," Broseph said with a grin. "That's how it should be."

Right as another song was beginning, Lo felt a tap on her shoulder from behind, then turned around and saw Fin. "Hey, Fin!" Lo said, smiling.

"Hey, Lo," Fin replied with her own smile, extending her hand to Lo. "Want to dance?"

"Sure," Lo said, taking Fin's hand as they walked onto the dance floor.

Reef then arrived at the catering table and raised an eyebrow as he watched Lo and Fin take the floor to have a dance together. "Yo dude, what's up with Lo and Fin there?" Reef asked Broseph.

"What, you forgot what you and Fin talked about already, bro?" Broseph said. "She dropped by Lo's hotel suite while we were in Victoria and she comforted Lo after she told Fin about her dad's condition in the hospital and she was sad about it, yo. Lo told me she promised Fin a few dances here tonight in return for Fin helpin' her feel better 'bout her dad, and it's cool."

"Oh yeah, right," Reef said, kicking himself mentally for not remembering what he and Fin talked about beside the fountain on the Royal Jubilee Hospital grounds two weeks earlier. "Fin thought I was gonna joke about it, but I told her she did right by Lo and that I knew it had a personal meaning for her 'cause of what happened to her own dad. So yeah, Lo and Fin on the dance floor...no biggie," he said with a shrug.

"Good man," Broseph said with a nod. "Fin woulda ripped you a new one otherwise if you ribbed her about it."

"Yeah, almost what she said too," Reef agreed. Catching the smell of some fresh food nearby, he then added, "Hey, I think I hear a mini chimichanga or two calling my name."

"Whoa, they got mini chimichangas?" Broseph said, turning to look toward where the smell came from. "Sweet!"

Meanwhile on the dance floor, Lo and Fin held each other close, with Fin's arms wrapped around Lo's waist while Lo had her arms draped around Fin's shoulders, as they slow-danced to a ballad from the 1970s, "When I Need You". "I'm glad you're feeling better now that your dad's doing all right," Fin said.

"Thanks, Fin," Lo replied. "I was really worried about him for a while, but I'm happy that all my friends and Mom and Ty were there to give me the support I needed while Daddy was in the hospital, and to help me deal with George. But besides Mom, I think the ones who made the biggest difference for me were you and Broseph."

"Yeah?" Fin said.

"Yeah," Lo said in response. "Broseph helped me feel better by talking with me about Daddy in the hospital chapel when I went in there to get away from George, and you...you really made a difference at the Empress just by being there for me, to cuddle with me, comfort me and reassure me when I needed it."

"I know, I was happy to do it for you," Fin said. "You deserve it 'cause that's what friends do for each other."

"That's true," Lo said. After a brief pause, she added, "And I'm glad you and Reef are doing a lot better yourselves. Emma told me about the two of you out by the fountain at the hospital in Victoria two weeks ago."

"Thanks, Lo," Fin said. "I've noticed Reef's been a gentleman to me since the dance started earlier tonight. Everything he's said and done, I don't know...he's not exactly sharp enough to come up with these ideas on his own, so I'm sure he must've had some coaching before the dance."

"Well, yeah, he _did_ have a little help," Lo admitted. "I'll just leave it at that. What counts is you two being together."

"Yeah, I know," Fin said. "I know you and Emma have been trying to push me and Reef together since early June. I got just one thing to say about that - nice work. I think the stuff you and Emma coached him on to try with me is working on him like a charm."

"I'm glad to help," Lo said. "Right now though, let's just enjoy the moment," she added, closing her eyes and leaning her head against Fin's as the two girls continued moving slowly together to the music.

* * *

At a few minutes before midnight, after Fin, Lo and Emma had each had another dance with their respective dates, Fin and Emma took Lo over by the catering table. "Okay girls, you said you had some surprises for me," Lo said, "so what are they? I want to know."

"Emma and I talked about it a while ago after we met Carter, the new manager here, but we wanted to save it until now because it's good news we think you'll like," Fin told Lo. "I did a lot of thinking about this and I know it's still a year and a half away for me, but I've decided that once I graduate from high school then, I'm planning to move here to Sunset Beach for good. I wanted you to be the first to know."

Lo's mouth dropped open in stunned silence for a moment. "You are?" she asked, feeling surprised, as Fin nodded in affirmation.

"And one time back in June when Fin was teaching me to surf, I told her I wanted to live by the beach for the rest of my life," Emma joined in. "So after my high school graduation, I'm going to do the same and move to Sunset Beach permanently."

"Ohmigosh," a still-surprised Lo said. "Really? Both of you actually want to move here to stay once you graduate high school?"

"We do," Emma confirmed. "We decided to do it because we like it here. We like the town, we like the surfing opportunities and, now that Surfer's Paradise has a new and better manager and better facilities for the staff to stay in, I think we'll like working at the hotel when we come back in the summer. But among it all," she added, putting her hand on Lo's shoulder, "we want to come back here because of you."

"Which brings us to another surprise we have for you," Fin said to Lo. "Reef, Broseph, Johnny, come here, guys. It's time," she then called over to the guys, who walked over to where the girls were standing. Fin also called on Ty, Kelly, David, Mrs. McCloud, Mrs. Garcia and Kahuna to also join them for the unveiling of the special surprise the one-time groms had for Lo.

"Lo, you remember when you helped win us the chance to surf the Office when you found that keychain in the dumpster in the final part of grom initiation on our first week at the hotel?" Broseph said.

"And when you got Fin and me dresses for that night at the movies when we spied on Reef and his date?" Emma added.

"And when you helped get that travel critic to like the hotel by taking him to surf El Duderino," Johnny joined in.

"Don't forget when you led us to the circuit breaker panel in the basement to get the power in the hotel turned back on after using those floodlights for night surfing shorted the power out," Reef said.

"Then there's the time when you bought good food for the staff with your 'mad money' to replace the garbage Bummer was getting for us while you also got me and Reef time to practice for the Staff Tandem Surfing Contest," Fin said.

"And when you took a strike for me from Bummer while trying to keep me from getting fired," Emma said.

"And when you helped us wipe out Captain Ron's golfing island resort to get our waves back by getting those jet skis on your mom's credit card for us to use in our plan," Broseph commented.

"And, of course, when you helped me after my dad was killed in that car accident in August," Fin added.

"And when you found out what Bummer was doing around the hotel while you investigated him and exposed him to your dad to get Bummer back for him refusing to let Fin go back home for her dad's funeral," Johnny then mentioned.

"What we're all tryin' to say is that you've made a huge difference to us while you worked with us on staff here," Broseph said. "Surfer's Paradise just wouldn't be the same without you here. That's why we decided to get you this..." He then produced a small box from his coat pocket to hand to Fin, who then gave the box to Lo.

"Go ahead, take a look inside," Fin said to Lo, who then opened the box. Lo gasped with surprise when she saw what was inside - a heart-shaped gold-plated pendant with the image of an angel in silver on the front.

"The five of us chipped in to get it for you at Huntington's," Emma explained, also indicating Fin, Reef, Broseph and Johnny. "We wanted to save it for this moment to give to you, as our way to honor you."

"It's our way of saying, well..." Fin said before pausing briefly, feeling a bit of emotion in the moment. "It's our way to say that you're our angel, Lo, and we all love you."

Lo felt deeply and genuinely touched by the heartfelt sentiments being expressed by her friends, and especially by what they gave her to represent those sentiments. "_Awwwww_, thank you, guys," she said, melting upon beholding their gift. "This really means a lot, and I love you all too," she added with a smile as she put her hands over her heart and shed a couple of happy tears, knowing that she felt appreciated and loved by her friends.

Emma then lifted Lo's long hair off the back of her neck while Fin took the angel pendant and put it on Lo. Fin then turned to face Lo and put her hands on her friend's shoulders. "Thank you for everything, Lo," said Fin, who then gave Lo a kiss on her forehead, then joined her and Emma in a group hug while the rest of the gathered group applauded and cheered. Lo, in turn, then took a moment to give hugs to Reef, Broseph, Johnny, Kelly, David, Ty, Mrs. McCloud, Mrs. Garcia and the Kahuna in appreciation.

Just then, Johnny's attention was caught by the announcement over the ballroom's sound system of the countdown to midnight. "Hey guys, the countdown to the new year's starting!" he reminded the rest of the group, who then joined the other partygoers in the countdown. "Ten! Nine! Eight! Seven! Six! Five! Four! Three! Two! One! HAPPY NEW YEAR!" The gang, along with the guests in the ballroom, cheered and celebrated the arrival of the new year, followed by the singing of "Auld Lang Syne". After the song, Lo and Broseph, along with Johnny and Emma, hugged each other, while Kelly and David began kissing, as did Reef and Fin.

When they saw Reef and Fin kissing to welcome the new year, Broseph, Lo, Emma and Johnny all turned and applauded and cheered. When they saw their friends' response to their kiss, Fin blushed from embarrassment while Reef gave a thumbs-up and grinned. Fin saw Reef responding to the gang and elbowed him lightly in the ribs for his trouble. "Hey, don't encourage 'em, kook!" Fin admonished Reef half-jokingly.

"What?" Reef said. "At least you're not acting like you hate me like you did when we first started working here."

"Who said I was acting?" Fin said wryly, giving Reef a smirk and a raised eyebrow.

"Whatever," Reef retorted, still grinning. "I knew from the get-go you were into me."

* * *

Shortly after, at Lo's request, Emma and David brought trays with glasses filled with drinks for the entire group to raise a toast to the new year. As they were legally old enough to have alcoholic beverages, David, Mrs. McCloud, Mrs. Garcia and Kahuna got champagne, while Lo, Reef, Fin, Broseph, Emma, Johnny, Ty and Kelly (who was still a few months from turning 19, the legal age for drinking in British Columbia) got ginger ale for the toast.

"Well, the past month was a crazy one filled with its share of ups and downs," Lo said as she took her glass of ginger ale. "But now that it's behind us, we've got a whole new year to look forward to, one with better opportunities ahead."

"Got that right," Fin agreed.

"Here, here," Reef also said, with the rest of the gathered group also agreeing with Lo's statement.

"So, anyone have any new year's resolutions they want to make?" Lo asked.

"None here," Fin said. "I'm not a big believer in new year's resolutions 'cause no one ever sticks to them for long."

"Not me, sister," Reef declared. "This year, I resolve to be more humble, less of a braggart and less of a grandstander than I was last year." Reef's resolution ended up making the entire gang, other than his mother, laugh.

"You, more humble?" an incredulous Fin said. "Ha! Odds are you'll break that resolution within ten minutes. Bragging and grandstanding come as natural to you as breathing."

"Says who?" Reef retorted. "I happen to be very humble when I can be. I'm probably the most humble person I..." When Reef saw Fin raise an eyebrow and smirk at him, he realized he was busted. "Oh crap, I already broke my resolution, didn't I?" he said.

"Pretty much," Fin said with a grin as the others laughed again. "Didn't even last a minute."

"Anyway," Lo then said, "here's to the new year, to new beginnings and the continuation of friendships old and new. Anyone else want to add a toast?"

"Dance as if no one were watching, sing as if no one were listening and live every day as if it were your last," Mrs. McCloud said.

"Here's a toast to the future, a toast to the past, and a toast to our friends, far and near. May the future be pleasant, the past a bright dream; may our friends remain faithful and dear," Broseph added.

"Surrounded tonight by family and friends, into the New Year and forever let these bonds of love never end," Emma said.

"Raise your glass, let the old year pass. Just don't drink so much you fall on your..." Reef said.

"REEF!" Fin snapped, cutting Reef off before he could finish.

"Here's to the bright New Year and a fond farewell to the old. Here's to the things that are yet to come, and to the memories that we hold," David said.

"May the friends of our youth be the companions of our old age," Kelly said.

"To the New Year, renewal, hope, and cheer. May your dreams and wishes come true this year," Fin said.

"I speak to you, dear to my heart, our intertwined lives never shall part. The New Year is here, we'll take it on, our hearts together are stronger than one. Cheers!" Lo then said to finish out the toasts as the gang clinked their glasses together and consumed their drinks, bringing in the new year in style and ready to face what was to come.

**THE END**

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**Well, that finally wraps up this story. Looking back, I think I should've started writing it earlier so I could post the chapters in more timely fashion and have it all done by Christmas, but it was worth it. Now that it's done, I can _finally_ get back to work on my currently on-hiatus "Grandma's Got Stoke!", which I know some ReeFin fans have been waiting for me to resume.**

**As always, reviews and comments are welcome, and thanks for all the reviews to date.  
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